


Kingdom Hearts - Princess of Light Remix-

by greeneggs101



Series: -Princess of Light Remix- [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Background Relationships, Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)-centric, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-19 08:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13700718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/pseuds/greeneggs101
Summary: Destiny is never left to chance, but the roles can be played with a bit.Kairi and Sora role reversal. Kairi is the keyblade wielder and Sora plays the Damsel in Distress (and KH1 Riku is still KH1 Riku)





	1. a bit of the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So this story began as a comment on a fic a few months ago, and though I started working on it back in September, the ideas didn't start to flow till about... three days ago. 
> 
> So the original prompt for this was "I've always wanted to see sora and kairi switch roles cause I feel like Riku would be a little more dark with soras heart on the line. And I just want to see my baby kairi get to beat up ansem with a flowery keyblade." This is my interpretation of that. I'm not sure if I completely succeeded in showing Riku becoming 'darker' but it was interesting trying to write Kairi as the hero and Sora in the damsel role. (and I so missed writing the little spiky haired jellybean) 
> 
> It's less of a chapter story, and more of a series of 'cut scenes.' But when I was figuring out how to post it, it made more sense to do it as chapters than as one long one shot or even in parts. Since they are super short chapters in some cases, I'll probably post 1-2 every other day depending on the length. It also means that the story will jump around a bit as I didn't include all worlds cause it was becoming a bit repetitive. 
> 
> And I'm definitely messing some with established canon fact... but it's an AU.

The beginning was rather innocuous: a sudden storm and a concerned parent questioning where Kairi was going. The delay caused her to arrive to the play island only 5 minutes after Sora and Riku. But with heartless now overrunning the world, a delay of five minutes meant everything.

It meant that Kairi wasn’t drawn to the door in the secret place, for the doorway was already covered in darkness too thick to go through. It meant that instead of heading towards the secret place, she headed for the Papou island instead, where Sora was reaching for Riku’s hand, both of them becoming overshadowed by the same darkness that had was protruding from the secret place.

“Sora!” Kairi called out, reaching for her friend. But it was too late, the darkness overshadowed him and he faded from her grip.

“Riku! What’s happening?!”

“The door... the door has opened,” Riku stated, his voice strange. None of the feigned haughtiness he often showed to everyone else, nor the soft vulnerabilities he showed to her and Sora only. His hand still reached out, even as the rest of him was fading into the darkness.

“What do you mean?” Kairi nearly reached out, but something stopped her last moment.

Something was very wrong here.

In that moment of hesitation, Riku vanished.

“Riku!” she called out, but then felt something touch her leg. With a shriek, she realized that the darkness that had swallowed Sora and Riku was now crawling to her waist. She screamed again and tried to run, but the dark tendrils tripped her and she fell. The tendrils changed shape to small black beings, with bright yellow eyes. They jumped. Flinching, Kairi raised her hands above her head.

A bright flash of light blinded her for a second. When she hesitantly opened her eyes, she found that the darkness and the beings were gone. Groaning, she sat up, and felt a heavy weight in her hand. She drew back in surprise at the strange weapon in her grasp. A long reddish blade, decorated heavily with flowers and ocean waves.

She only had to wonder briefly what it was before a word echoed in her head.

_Keyblade..._

Around her, the world was shaking itself apart. She could no longer see the main island, and the ocean waves seemed to disappear before her eyes.

More creatures came. On instinct, Kairi swung her new blade and was shocked with the monsters disappeared, leaving only a glowing red heart that floated briefly before disappearing. Staring at the hoard of creatures before her, Kairi gripped her blade tight and ran into the mass.

But no matter the number of creatures that fell before her blade, the Islands continued to tear themselves apart, chunks ripping and floating towards a black hole that had appeared in the sky.

She held on for as long as she could before she too was thrown into the void.

Destiny is never left to chance. But the roles can be played with a bit.


	2. talking in traverse town

“Keyblade?” Kairi wondered looking at the blade leaning against the wall. It didn't look as powerful as the man, Leon, seemed to think it was. But then Kairi remembered how easily it had taken out those shadow creatures... the heartless?

She held back a sigh. This whole thing was crazy. It had been hours since she had woken up in this strange town and she still wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or not. Maybe Wakka hit her on the head really hard with his ball. Kairi rubbed at the lump on her head. It had certainly felt real when Leon knocked her out. 

“Yep,” Leon stated, picking up the flowery blade. It remained in his grip for only a second before a flash of light called it back to Kairi’s hand. “As long as you carry it, they’ll keep coming after you.”

“The heartless, you mean?” 

“Yep!” the dark haired girl, Yuffie agreed. “They’re drawn to that light.”

Kairi nodded. That made as much as anything right now. “Fine, but what about my home, my island?” She pulled out her lucky charm, surprised that it had managed to make the trip with her. “Riku and Sora?”

“Not sure,” Leon’s voice was blunt but gentle, “But we can look out for them here. Or they may have been blasted off to some other world.”

“Great," Kairi said, gripping her charm before putting it back into her pocket. 

At that moment, there was a commotion outside. Kairi immediately got up, keyblade in hand, Yuffie burst through the door to the room next over calling “Aerith!”

The shadow heartless began to crawl out of the shadows in the room.

“Quick!” Leon called to Kairi, opening the door to the balcony and pushing her through. “Go through the alleyway and head towards the third district.” 

“What?!” Kairi cried out. Before she got an answer, Leon practically tossed her off the balcony. Kairi landed on her feet easily, glaring up at the retreating back of the brunet. 

She didn’t have long to be put out though, as the shadowed heartless and the strange helmeted ones began to swarm. She swung the blade on instinct, missing more often than not. For an instant, she wished that she had taken up swordplay with Sora and Riku instead of always watching on the sidelines. At least she wouldn't be so useless now. 

She shook off the self pity. There was really no time like the present to learn. She eventually managed to find a doorway that led out into the second district. It was thankfully quiet.

“Great... now where’s the third district?” She wondered aloud. 

Something nudged her hand and she nearly shrieked. Turning quickly, keyblade in hand, she saw the yellow dog that had greeted her in this town. “Oh... hello again, doggie. Do you know where the third district is?”

The dog barked, leaping up to lick her face before bounding off. 

Kairi rushed after him. “Wait! Doggie!” She followed the dog around a corner into another alleyway, before it stopped in front of a door marked “3.”

“Oh... I guess you do know the way,” she pushed the door open. “Good doggie!” 

The dog barked and wagged its tail, nearly bowling Kairi over in his eagerness to get through. 

She walked down the steps that led to a big open area, “I wonder if Leon and the others are okay.”

“Goofy! Look out!” a strange voice called out. 

Kairi looked up, and just in time. Two figures were descending right towards her. She tried to dodge out of the way, but they both landed right on her. 

“Ugh....” Kairi tried to sit up but the weight of the two was too heavy. Then an elbow jammed right into her boob and she let out a startled shriek. 

“Oh...uh sorry....” a voice apologized softly, and then there was a hand in her face helping her up. 

Kairi accepted it, rubbing the sore spot quickly before grinning, “It’s okay.” 

Then she really looked at the two who fell on her. One was clearly a duck who was eyeing her keyblade suspiciously. The other was a...dog?... who still looked apologetic. 

“Is that a keyblade?” The duck asked.

“Um... yes...” Kairi held it up. “It came to me.”

“Hmm....” the duck did not look convinced. 

The dog leaned down to whisper, “Uh Donald, maybe we should introduce ourselves.” Then he stood back up, “I’m Goofy, and this here is Donald Duck.” 

Kairi couldn’t help but grin at the guy. Despite his friend’s suspicious look, Goofy seemed sweet enough. In a way, they reminded her a bit of Riku and Sora. “I’m Kairi! It's nice to meet you!”

“Well, what brings you to Traverse Town, Kairi?” Goofy asked.

“I woke up here... but I’m looking for my friends, Riku and Sora,” Kairi answered, pulling out her good luck charm. “I hope I find them.”

“You should come with us!” Donald spoke up, “We’re looking for our King. Maybe your friends are with him.”

Goofy leaned down to whisper something to Donald that Kairi couldn’t quite catch, to which Donald replied “No idea, but the king said to follow the person with the key.”

“You should go with them, Kairi,” Leon’s voice came from above at the ledge. He came down the stairs as well and nodded at Goofy and Donald. “We don’t have many ships available to go searching for your friends if they are not here. There are hundreds of worlds, might as well start your search with friends.”

Kairi looked back at the duo and nodded, “Okay, I’ll go with you guys.”

Donald smiled. “Great but there’s one thing...”

“Oh?”

“Our ship runs on happy faces!” Donald gave a big grin to demonstrate. “So no tears, no sad faces, got it?”

“Oh...” Kairi wasn’t sure she could do that, she was really worried for her friends, and nervous about what the future would hold. But she had to try. She put on her best happy face and looked up, “Like this?”

Donald and Goofy laughed and nodded, “Exactly!”

Kairi laughed with them, feeling a little better since she woke up here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since in Kairi's personality isn't explored that much in KH1 (I don't blame them since she spends 80ish% of it as a sleeping vegetable), I'm basing a bit of her personality on the KHII Manga version, in which she is actually kind of hilarious. Sweet, but hilarious, and she does call Pluto, "Doggie." If you haven't read the manga, I definitely recommend it. What they lack in disney world exploration, they totally make up for in character development.


	3. hawaiian roller coaster ride

_“You know, Riku has changed.”_

_“Huh? What do you mean?” Sora’s brow furrowed in confusion._

_“Well...” Kairi wasn’t really sure how to describe it, but wasn’t surprised that Sora didn’t see the subtle changes she had noticed in their white haired friend. The occasional dark looks she noticed sent her way, or the way he stared longingly at the horizon. Riku and Sora were together so often, Sora probably just got used to Riku’s moods._

_Or maybe Riku didn’t have any moods when he was alone with Sora._

_“You okay?” He looked at her in concern. He was so sweet._

_“Sora, let’s take the raft and go! Just the two of us!” Kairi intentionally pitched her voice higher, trying use the flirting tips Selphie had given her earlier. Maybe Sora would get the hint that just the two of them could go on a different kind of adventure._

_“Huh?” Sora looked at her in absolute bafflement._

_Of course...Sora would never go for that, would he. “Hehehe! Just kidding.” Sora was just her friend. Nothing more._

_Sora laughed with her, “What’s gotten into you? You’re the one that’s changed Kairi.”_

_“Maybe,” Kairi pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, “You know, I was a little afraid at first. But now I’m ready. No matter where I go, or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?”_

_“Of course!”_

_“That’s good,” she repressed a sigh. “Sora, don’t ever change.” Sora was right, she has changed. But Sora was the one constant in her life, and she wanted to hold on to that. Maybe it was a bit selfish of her. Maybe that’s why Riku didn't--_

_“Huh?”_

_She stood up off the pier, not really wanting to dwell on it anymore. “I can’t wait. Once we set sail, it’ll be great.”_

It was not as great as she hoped.

Kairi groaned as she opened her eyes and made the resolution to never, ever let Donald drive the gummi ship again, no matter how hard he pushed.

Would traveling with Riku and Sora have been this bad? She thought Sora would have been okay. Though, now she could admit that neither she nor Sora would have lasted three days if Riku wasn’t there to keep them focused. He was the one who made all the plans.

She tried to open her eyes again, the bright sunlight not as startling as the first time. Dark green grass entered her vision first, then tall palm trees. She sat up in shock.

Was she home?

Was it all a dream?

Then she saw the keyblade lying only a few feet away, the bright colors of the hilt and blade contrasting starkly with the surrounding grass.

Not a dream. Then where was she? And where were Donald and Goofy?

“Icki baba!” a voice shouted to her right. Startled she turned and saw a tiny blue creature (dog?) standing on two legs and pointing at her.

“Stitch!” a younger voice called, “Where’d you go?”

“Icki baba!” the creature repeated.

A young girl with dark hair stumbled into the clearing as well, nearly tripping over Stitch before stopping in front of Kairi. “Oh... sorry...”

“It’s alright,” Kairi grinned. “I’m Kairi.”

“I’m Lilo,” the girl answered and pointed at the creature, “And this is Stitch. He’s my dog.”

Stitch might have been doing his best impression of a dog, but Kairi seriously doubted it. “Right... Hey have you seen my friends? Their names are Donald and Goofy.”

Lilo shook her head, “No... I was just following Stitch when we saw you fall from the sky.”

“Oh...” Kairi sighed, maybe they left her behind because she fought with Donald too much. “What about two boys? They may have arrived a few days ago? Sora and Riku?”

Again the girl shook her head, “Nope.”

Kairi smiled, “That’s okay, I guess. Do you mind showing me around though to see if I can find my friends?”

Lilo offered a big smile, “Sure! Tell Stitch what they look like, he’s the smartest dog ever. He might be able to find them.”

“Uh...” Kairi glanced back over at the creature who was now using his tongue to... pick his nose. She resisted the urge to gag. “Stitch?”

Instantly Stitch sat up straighter, ears perking up. “Cheebe wa?”

“I’m looking for my friends, okay? One’s... well one looks like a duck and the other is... sort of like a dog, I think. Their names are Donald and Goofy. Can you help me find them?”

“Ich!” Stitch said.

Kairi remembered dogs from the islands before and she was pretty certain Stitch was not barking, but it sounded like speech. “Okay, I guess that’s a yes?”

Stitch nodded and trotted off.

Together they searched the path from the clearing to the main road. The world was huge, with buildings that reminded Kairi a little of the islands, but much more populated. “Where am I?”

“Kokaua, in Hawaii,” Lilo answered, giving Kairi a funny look, “Did you fall from an airplane?”

“What’s an airplane?” Kairi questioned back, but refrained from mentioning anything else that seemed different from her own world. Donald had mentioned not upsetting the world order, so she supposed that meant not letting anyone else know that she was from elsewhere. She idly wondered how well they were going to keep the world order in places where a walking talking duck and dog were not the norm.

After an hour of searching, Kairi finally sighed and sat down on one of the nearby benches. Lilo hopped up next to her, and Stitch sat next to Lilo.

The redhead pulled out her good luck charm from her pocket, “Sora, Riku... where are you?” She would feel better if she could just find them.

“Friendship Circle!”

Kairi let out a startled yell as Stitch leapt across Lilo to grab at her charm. The redhead tried to pull it back but was afraid of breaking it, so she let go. For his part, Stitch didn’t seem all that interested in damaging it, but stared at it with longing.

Then Kairi realized that the creature talked, “You... you spoke?” Definitely _not_ a dog.

“Terra... Awkuwa, Ven...” Stitch let out a small sigh and handed the charm back to Kairi, “Friends in circle. Friends in heart...”

Kairi wasn't sure about the first three things Stitch had said, but they sounded like names. Terra, Awkuwa and Ven? They didn’t sound like Destiny Island names. But who else would know about the wayfinder charm?

“What is it?” Lilo asked, looking at the charm.

“It’s a charm from my Island...” Kairi explained, letting Lilo hold it. The girl traced the stitches and the face Kairi had drawn on the shell. “It’s based on a special star shaped fruit. If you and your friends eat the fruit, or carry around charms shaped like it, you’ll never lose each other. I made one because...” she trailed off, not wanting to burden the girl with her problems.

“Beeecause?” Lilo leaned in and looked up at her. Kairi found she couldn’t resist.

“My friends and I were going to go on a grand adventure and I didn’t want to lose them, so I made a good luck charm. But the night before we were going to set out, a storm... swept away our raft... and my friends. I’m looking for them,” She put away the charm, hopping off the bench.

“A storm huh?” Lilo hopped off too. “You must not have fed Pudge the fish a sandwich.”

“Pudge the fish?”

“He controls the weather,” Lilo smiled at her, “but having friends must be nice. That’s why I got Stitch. He’s still learning how to be a friend though, so sometimes he’s bad. But that’s okay, cause I know on the inside he’s good. We’re just trying to raise his good levels.”

Kairi giggled at the explanation, “And how do you help raise his good levels?”

“By being his friend,” Lilo leaned in close to whisper to Kairi, “And sometimes a water bottle helps.”

Stitch growled at the mention of a water bottle. Kairi couldn’t help but laugh though. Stitch’s moodiness but overall helpfulness reminded her of Riku in a way. Just imagining spraying the silver-haired boy with sea water when he got arrogant and mean was enough to make her double over in laughter while Lilo and Stitch looked on in confusion.

Once Kairi was able to catch her breath, she continued to follow Lilo and her ‘dog’ as they looked around town. Soon it started getting dark and Lilo looked like she was getting nervous.

“I should head home now,” Lilo looked sad to go.

“Right, your parents must be worried,” Kairi wondered where her adoptive parents were. Did they make it off the islands? Or were they safe somewhere else?

“No,” Lilo stated, more than a little sullen, “just a sister.”

“Oh...” Kairi tried to smile, “Okay.”

Suddenly Lilo took her hand, “You should come too! We can look for your friends again tomorrow!”

They made their way back up the hill. As they neared a house towards the top, Stitch began growling.

“Stitch?”

“Cheebi wa nagli soo,” Stitch grumbled, then hurried through another path that led around the house.

Distantly, Kairi began to hear voices, but it wasn’t until she got closer that she recognized one of them.

“Let us go you big balooka!”

Definitely Donald.

“My friends!” Kairi exclaimed quietly. She and Lilo crept closer until Stitch held a paw out for them to stop.

“We’re not aliens!” came Goofy’s voice.

Kairi managed to peer around a tree, seeing Donald and Goofy tied up near a poorly lit campfire. Nearby a big guy in a jumpsuit held up some sort of weapon. “Please, you don’t look anything like the humans around here.”

He spoke with a distinct accent, though Kairi couldn’t place it.

“I still think we should call the Grand Councilwoman!” another, higher voice, exclaimed. A figure a little shorter than Kairi came around the fire, wearing what looked like a dark haired wig. “If there are other races looking for the experiment-”

“We’re not looking for an experiment, we’re looking for his majesty!” Donald shouted again.

“A likely story,” the big guy brandished his gun again, stepping closer to the fire. Kairi could then see the guy had four eyes.

“Woah!” Kairi stepped back.

Stitch began pushing Lilo and her back in the direction of the house.

“Wait!” Kairi whispered, “They’re my friends, I have to save them.”

“Gumbi ku cheeba!” Stitch grumbled still pushing.

“Please?” Kairi tried.

Stitch looked up at her before sighing loudly and clawing his hands down his face in exasperation. “Okay.”

He motioned for them to stay where they were while he circled around to the other end of camp. Kairi peeked around the tree as Stitch strolled right into the firelight.

“Ichi baba!” Stitch cried, twisting into a handstand, “Stupid head!”

“626!” the big guy cried, “Decided to come out of hiding then?”

“Hahaha!” the little blue guy ran off, followed by both the four eyed big guy and the smaller figure.

Once they were both out of the fireight, Kairi crept closer. Goofy saw her first.

“Kairi-”

Kairi quickly motioned for him to be quiet as she undid their bindings and got them back into the dense trees.

“Oh Kairi! We thought you were lost for good!” Goofy gave her a big hug.

Donald was a little more sullen, tapping his foot in agitation. Finally Kairi sighed and leaned down to give him a hug too. “I’m sorry, Donald. I shouldn’t have yelled. I know you’re worried about your King.”

Finally, Donald sighed and gave her a hug back. “I’m sorry too. We’ll search every world we come across for your friends too...”

“Right!” Kairi laughed.

“Speaking of,” Goofy held out a glowing fragment of his hand, one that looked like a gummi piece. “We think it’s from the king’s ship...”

“A king?” Lilo piped up.

“Oh...” Kairi nearly forgot she was there, “Lilo, these are my friends, Donald and Goofy.”

“Right...” she seemed only a little confused at a talking dog and duck, but she had her own strange talking dog, so Kairi figured she was sort of used to it. “I think my dog collects those...” she pointed at the piece in Goofy’s hand.

“Maybe we can ask him about it when he gets back.” Kairi hoped he would know something. It was the only clue they had so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I got Lilo's characterization right. It's been literal years since I watched that movie. 
> 
> Just so ya'll know, I'm not going to write every world Kairi, Donald, and Goofy (gosh that felt weird to type) will go to. Mostly because of how I wrote this story as a selection of cutscenes, some world interactions were easier to write while others were just... awful. So if I don't mention a world specifically, it probably went the in a similar way as it did with Sora. 
> 
> But yeah, this is one of two worlds Kairi will visit that Sora has not. Bonus points? to anyone who can guess the next one. (Hint, it's the world of another princess of heart)


	4. teaching an old dog

“What? I can’t let a girl in the tournament!” The satyr shouted.

“And why not?” Kairi questioned, hands on her hips. “Girls can’t be heroes?”

“Well... I mean...” The satyr tripped over his words, “Uhh...”

“She has a point, Phil,” a voice behind her said. “You should give her a chance.”

Kairi looked back and immediately felt her throat go dry and her face flush. Quickly she ducked her head and tried to hide her face.

Okay when she and Selphie talked about what boys they liked, Selphie had mentioned that a guy with muscles was nice, like Riku, while Kairi preferred a nice personality.

Like Sora.

But apparently both of those qualities could come in one rather nice looking package. One, very, very _nice_ looking package.

Goofy was laughing at her expense while she tried to get her face under control.

As she took deep breaths to try and get rid of the blush, she overheard the satylr, Phil and the new guy arguing.

“Don’t forget Atalanta,” the guy was saying, “and do you really want to insult Artemis or Athena?”

“Not particularly,” the satyr looked sick at the thought, “but you gotta admit, those three got a bit more... experience, then little birdie over there.”

“Phil! That’s not nice!”

Finally Kairi had enough of them talking like she wasn’t there, flush or no flush. “Hey! What can I do to prove myself then?!”

The guy grinned, “Well... Phil’s putting most of the new teams through some qualifying rounds first right?” He turned to look at the satyr.

Phil let out a sigh, “Alright, you win!” He turned to Kairi, “Get through the qualifiers, and you’re in the games.”

“Yay!” Kairi shouted, leaping for joy. Not only could she prove herself as a true hero, but it would be a good chance to train too. She turned to the taller guy, “Thank you...uh...” she trailed off, realizing that she didn’t even know his name.

The guy took pity on her, “My name’s Hercules. Herc to my friends.”

“Thank you, Hercules, Kairi grinned, “My name is Kairi, and this is Donald, and Goofy.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Phil waved them in the direction of the door, “The qualifiers are about to start soon.”

Kairi nodded and waved at Hercules again as they left.

The rounds passed by quick enough, Kairi fighting through the familiar heartless that she had seen in Traverse Town and Wonderland.

Soon she, Donald, and Goofy had moved up far enough that they could take a break. She returned to the vestibule for a glass of water and a snack, appreciating the cure spell Donald cast on all of them.

“Wow! You really are small!” a voice said behind them.

Kairi turned and saw a woman with long brown hair smiling at them. “Who are you calling small?”

The woman laughed, “Woah, there spitfire! I just meant that the way you were taking out those creatures, and wielding that blade, one would think you were a bit bigger. Though... you tend to leave you left side open a lot, and you need a bit more practice aiming your magic.” She held out her hand, “My name’s Tifa.”

Kairi shook her hand, “Kairi. So you were watching the qualifiers?”

“Yeah... I got passed the qualifiers ages ago so I was watching the rest to see who the competition would be. I’m guessing you’re not from around here.”

“Uh...” Kairi stumbled, and Donald and Goofy were absolutely no help as they devoured the snack bar, “Um... we’re from...”

Tifa laughed and leaned down, “It’s okay, Phil and Hercules both know about the other worlds. How do you think Phil gets so many contenders?”

Kairi laughed, nerves melting away, “So you’re not from around here either?”

“Nah... I’m from this place called Radiant Garden.”

Kairi frowned for a moment, the name causing a jolt to run through her, though she couldn’t fathom why. “So what brings you here?” she asked instead, trying to shake the feeling.

“I’m looking for my friend. He’s got this really spiky hair,” Tifa pointed a finger up from her forehead to demonstrate.

Kairi couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m looking for my spiky haired friend too.” She sighed, “And our other friend. There names are Sora and Riku. Do you know if they passed by?”

Tifa shook her head, “Doesn’t sound familiar.” She leaned against the wall next to Kairi, “I just know my friend’s here though. A competition like this is sure to draw him.”

Kairi grinned, “I hope you find him.”

“Same to you!”

Just then, Phil called for her, Donald and Goofy to meet at the ring for their final qualifying match.

“Do you want to watch?” Kairi offered. “I could do with a few more tips.”

“Sure!” Tifa winked, “Besides, I’m still scouting out the competition.”

Kairi and her friends made their way back into the ring while Tifa headed for the stands. When they entered, their opponent was already there.

Instead of the usual heartless teams Kairi had become used to fighting, her opponent now was human, with spiky blonde hair and a glove that turned his left hand into a set of talons.

Kairi suddenly realized that she had found Tifa’s friend.

The blonde looked at her for only a moment before scoffing, “Seriously? How could you be a threat to Hades?”

Kairi tilted her head, “Huh? Who’s Hades?”

The blonde ignored her and entered his battle stance. “You better be worth the effort.”

Kairi brandished her blade, knowing that Donald and Goofy had her back. “Don’t worry, I will.”

It was a bit harder than her bravado made it out to be. The blonde was fast, quickly knocking Goofy and Donald unconscious. Kairi could only barely dodge his attacks, keeping in mind Tifa’s suggestions of watching out for her left side. She did notice that her opponent tended to need a moment to recover from a particularly strong attack, and she timed her own hits to land during those crucial seconds.

Though her energy was fading, she refused to give up.

She was just about to launch into another volley of attacks when a sudden feeling of darkness caused her to stop in her tracks She glanced behind the blonde and couldn’t even get a word of warning out in time before a large black paw smacked him to the ground. Kairi started running towards him to help, but three giant dog heads growled at her.

“Cloud!” Kairi heard Tifa yell.

Cloud struggled under the beast’s weight. “Tifa?”

There was a comotion from the stands as several spectators rushed to the exists. But Tifa was the only one was struggling against the panicking crowd.

A growl reminded Kairi of her sudden new opponent.

“Sorry... but that was just taking way too long and I’m an impatient person,” a voice stated. From a cloud of blue flame another... person?...emerged. His skin was an ashen grey and instead of hair he had blue flames coming out of his head. “Hi, Hades, Lord of the Dead, God of the Underworld, perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

“Um...sorry, but no,” Kairi kept one eye warily on the dog in front of her. Cloud still struggled against the paw, but the dog was too heavy.

“Ugh, figures. You off world contenders never know how to respect a real god.”

“Hades!” another voice yelled.

Kairi turned and saw Hercules running onto the field.

“Ah ah ah!” Hades waved his finger and popped out of existence, popping back in front of Hercules. “I do believe it’s in the rules not to interfere with other matches.”

“You through that rule out of the book when you called your dog here.”

“Oh well... true...” Hades laughed. “Speaking of...Cerberus! Snack time!”

The dog, Cerberus growled and lifted his paw off of the blonde, only to snap him in one of its three drooling maws a second later.

“Cloud!” Tifa shouted, “Hang on...”

Cloud had managed to free his arms, trying to stop Cerberus from chomping down. “Stay out of this, Tifa.”

“Not going to happen!” the brunet called back. She was already raising her fists to fight.

Kairi hurried to think. If Tifa fought, Cloud might lose his grip on Cerberus’ jaw and the teeth would bite into him. Or the dog would just tear the blonde apart with one of his other heads. Donald and Goofy were starting to wake up from their fight with Cloud, but they weren’t in any condition to help. They needed something else for the dog to chew on. Something preferably more...durable that a human. She glanced around and finally spotted something she hoped would help. “Tifa wait! Grab that weight over there!”

Tifa hesitated for only a moment before changing directions and grabbing the large circular weight. Kairi expected her to roll it, and was surprised when the brunet managed to lift the weight onto her shoulders and bring it over, “Want me to throw it at him?”

“Not exactly,” Kairi whispered, glancing over to where Hercules and Hades were still arguing. This might actually work as long as Hades stayed occupied. “Just follow my lead.” Then she turned back to the dog who was now growling at her in confusion.

“Cerberus. Sit!”

Kairi pointed at the ground and stared the dog down, remembering when Selphie was training her new puppy. The key was to maintain eye contact, though Kairi was having a little trouble picking which eye to maintain contact with.

Cerberus growled again, though this time less certain about it.

Kairi tried again. “C’mon Cerberus. Do you want the frisbee?” she pointed at the weight in Tifa’s hands. Tifa helpfully held it up higher for all six eyes to see. Cerberus glanced over in interest. “If you want the frisbee, you have to sit.” Kairi pointed at the ground again.

After a long moment, Cerberus sat.

“Good boy!” Kairi pitched her voice higher, like she was talking to a puppy rather than a large monster. “Now... drop it!” She pointed to where Cloud was still in Cerberus’s mouth. “Drop it!”

Cerberus whined, not wanting to give up his treat.

“Cerberus!” Kairi pointed again, “Drop it.”

Finally, with great reluctance, Cerberus dropped Cloud, who fell to the ground with an undignified squak. Cerberus watched him go for a moment before looking back at Kairi.

“Good boy Cerberus! You’re a good doggie aren’t you!”

Cerberus barked in agreement, his short tail wagging, which caused his whole back end to shake.

“Now.. fetch!”

Luckily, Tifa recognized the signal and threw the weight. To Kairi’s disbelief, it sailed over the top of the coliseum, Cerberus bounding over the wall to get to it.

“You...”

Kairi turned back to see that Hades was literally turning red with fury.

“You played FETCH with my GUARD DOG?!” Flames erupted from Hades and Kairi backed up a step or two before finding her courage.

“He’s a good dog,” Kairi placed her hands on her hips, “You should play with him once in a while.”

After a moment, Hades seemed to calm down, flames turning blue and skin returning to an ashen grey. He rolled his eyes, and placed a hand on his forehead, “I have got to get better help.” Then he popped out of existence again, and didn’t reappear.

“Cloud! Are you okay?”

Kairi turned to where Tifa was helping Cloud stand, though the blonde kept pushing her away.

“I’m fine... you shouldn’t be here,” he growled and tried to push her away.

“Oh shut up!” Tifa yelled, hitting Cloud in the side, smirking when he flinched, “You can keep pushing me away, but you’re my friend and I know I’m yours. I’m not going to give up on you just because you think you need to do everything by yourself.”

Cloud glared for a moment longer before seeming to give up and sagged against her, “Fine... you’re so stubborn.”

“Always!” Tifa grinned and waved Kairi over, “Kairi! This is my best friend, Cloud.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” Kairi grinned, “Those two over there are my friends, Donald, and Goofy.” She pointed to where Donald was still trying to get Goofy going with a few thunder spells.

Cloud smirked at them. “Nice trick with the dog.”

Kairi laughed, “Well... I knew I probably couldn’t fight against it.”

“Right...”

“I’m surprised she was holding her own against you,” Tifa teased, poking Cloud’s side, “losing your touch?”

“I was holding back,” Cloud scoffed, crossing his arms. “Didn’t seem fair Hades wanted to take out a little girl.”

“So he was after me?” Kairi tilted her head, “Why?”

“Don’t know...” Cloud murmured, but pointed to her keyblade, “But it had something to do with that.”

“My keyblade?” Kairi looked at it, not sure why such a thing would cause a God to become nervous.

Later, they were waving goodbye to Hercules, Tifa, Cloud and Phil as they headed for the exit. Phil had mentioned that there wouldn’t be any games for a while as Cerberus had done a number to the stadium, but to check back as soon they could so they could enter the games for real.

Kairi grinned at her new ‘Junior Hero License.’ “Wait till Sora and Riku see this!” she laughed as she imagined the look on their faces.

Suddenly, she felt that dark presence again and she quickly turned around, only to find a very large and sad three headed dog whining at her, drooling over his new toy. He leaned down to sniff at her, but didn’t make any move to bite.

“Aww...” Kairi petted the nose of the middle head, “I’ll be back to play soon boy, I promise... but maybe Hercules can play fetch with you.”

The dog whined but wagged his tail again, while another head barked in agreement. Kairi laughed and waved again, following Donald and Goofy through the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....yes I kind of borrowed the "train the dangerous Cerberus" idea from Percy Jackson. But at the same time, I didn't think Kairi would look at every big challenge and think "Yes I shall fight that!" Plus it's kind of funny to think of the big dangerous Cerberus acting like a puppy?
> 
> Also, Kairi would totally have a crush on Hercules. Who wouldn't?
> 
> I hope Tifa's not to OOC. I have never played FF7 and it's been years since I even saw anything with her in it outside of KH2. 
> 
> (Also fun fact: I actually just wrote this chapter for the story last night... when the inspiration hit... and I'm not sorry for that.)


	5. a short reunion

Kairi couldn’t help it, letting out a small smirk she had learned from Riku himself as the heartless dissipated with a few well aimed hits of her keyblade. “Leave it to who now?”

She had fought trained a three headed dog in the Coliseum, nearly saved Alice from false imprisonment in Wonderland, and ran from aliens trying to steal their gummiship.

After all that, of course she could take care of a few heartless. 

“Kairi? What--”

“I haven’t just been sitting around waiting for you guys to rescue me, you know!” Kairi huffed, brandishing her keyblade in front of her. “I’ve been traveling trying to find you and Sora.”

Riku let out a huff, “So... you haven’t found him either?”

“No... Feels like I’ve looked everywhere...” She turned back to where Donald and Goofy were waiting. “With them.”

Riku’s eyes looked over Donald and Goofy cautiously. “New friends?” 

There was something off in Riku’s tone. It was the same arrogant front he presented to others, and yet...

“Yeah, this is Donald and Goofy,” Kairi tried to grin, but it wasn’t coming out right. “I’ve been traveling on their ship... you should come too! We can both look for Sora!” She tried to laugh and it came out a small chuckle, “He’s probably sleeping somewhere!” 

Riku huffed but didn’t answer. 

Again, the feeling came back. Similar to what she felt back on the island, practically a lifetime ago. Something was just...off... about Riku. 

“He can’t go!”

Donald’s voice disrupted her thoughts and she turned to him. “Why not?”

“Because!”

“That’s not a reason, Donald!” Kairi shouted. 

“Uh.... guys?” Goofy’s voice tried to interrupt, but Donald shouted louder.

“He just can’t!” 

“Guys!” Goofy shouted over his friend, “I don’t think it matters anymore...”

Kairi looked back, and found that Riku was gone. “What? Where did he...” She trailed off, looking around. But for such a small area, there was no sign of her silver haired friend anywhere. 

“I don’t know...” Goofy wondered with his slightly dazed expression. “He just sort of... ran away while you two were arguing.”

Kairi sighed. “Well... I guess it’s good that he’s okay... we can tell Leon and the others to keep an eye out for him.”

Donald nodded in satisfaction, as if that had been his plan the whole time. 

As they made their way back to the little house Leon and the others were staying out, Kairi spared one last look towards where Riku had been standing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter, I know. I'm hoping to get another, longer one out before I have to leave for a conference tomorrow.


	6. a whale of a tale

“C’mon Pinocchio,” Kairi smiled and held out her hand, “Your father is worried. We can play games later...”

For a wooden puppet, Pinocchio could make one heck of a pouting face. It rivaled Sora’s. “But I want to play with Riku some more!”

Kairi withdrew her hand in shock, “Huh? Did you say--”

“I thought you liked games, Kairi,” a voice behind her said. 

Shocked, Kairi turned around. It was Riku, staring down on them from the ledge above.

“Or are you too busy now with that Keyblade and all?” Riku scoffed, hopping down so he was now on their level. 

Still, Kairi still felt like he was looking down on her. 

“What are you talking about?” Kairi asked, “I’m not too busy, I just--”

“Just what?” Riku interrupted, “Cause all I’ve seen is you running around showng off that thing.”

“I’ve been trying to rid the worlds of heartless!” Kairi defended, “What have you been doing? I know I caught sight of you in Agrabah before you ran off again!”

Riku scoffed, “I knew it! You aren’t even looking for Sora at all, are you?”

“Sora? Of course I am! I’ve been looking in every world, for you and Sora, since you seem to not be able to sit still for five minutes,” Kairi huffed, crossing her arms.

Riku stepped closer, “Clearly, you’re not looking that hard. I’ve already got a lead.” 

“You do?” Kairi perked up, “Where? What do you know?”

The white haired boy smirked, “Tell you what, catch me and Pinocchio and maybe I’ll tell you.” He grabbed Pinocchio's arm and pulled the puppet along, disappearing through one of the many tunnels in Monstro’s stomach. 

“Wati! Riku!” Kairi called out, then turned back to Donald and Goofy. “Why... why is he doing this?”

“Cause he’s up to no good!” Donald shouted, already hurrying after them. 

“Maybe he’s just confused...” Goofy tried to reason, patting her shoulder in comfort, “I’m sure if you talk to him, he’ll come around...”

“Yeah...” Kairi sighed, “Maybe...”

They chased Riku and the puppet through the maze of the whale’s intestines, fighting off heartless the whole way. Kairi wondered if the dark creatures were giving the whale indigestion. 

Finally they found the two in an area surrounded by poisonous stomach acid. Pinnochio was lying on one of the few non poisonous sections in the chamber. Riku stood next to him, smirking as they caught up. 

Kairi caught her breath before standing up, “Okay, we caught you. You promised.”

“You’re getting faster,” Riku stated, hopping across the poison to land next to her. “Why are you running around saving the worlds though? With the keyblade, you could do so much more.”

“Cause the heartless are doing harm to the worlds,” Kairi said. “Someone has to stop them.”

“Then maybe you should leave it to the real heros,” Riku scoffed. 

“What, like you?” Kairi placed her hands on her hips. She glared at the boy for a moment before her anger faded. She could never stay very angry at Sora or Riku for long. She let out a sigh and held out a hand. “Riku, we’re on the same side right? Why do I feel like we’re fighting?”

Riku rolled his eyes, “We’ve always been fighting. You’re just never thought I stood a chance at winning.”

“Huh?” Kairi’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Before Riku could answer (or more likely, avoid the question again), there was a growl from above. A large heartless dropped from a hole up above, landing right next to them and trapping the sleeping Pinocchio in his jail like belly. 

Riku called forth the same sword he had in Traverse Town while Kairi called on her keyblade. “Maybe you should leave it to me.”

“Yeah, that’s _not_ gonna happen.” Kairi launched an attack first, dodging the creatures whip like arms and landing a few blows on the head. 

She heard Riku laugh before he, Donald and Goofy launched into their own attacks. 

She was glad to see that she was able to keep up with Riku, even work off of him every once in a while. With practice, they could be a pretty good team. 

Then why were they fighting again?

The question bothered her through the battle, though she did her best to keep her focus, charging all of her energy dodging the creatures arms, the poison, and the occasional misfire of Donald’s thunder. Together, they managed to knock the heartless out and Kairi pulled Pinocchio from the monster’s stomach. 

“Hey Riku? What did you mean that we’ve always been fighting?” Kairi asked as she carried the puppet back towards the entrance. 

Riku didn’t answer her. She turned, “Riku?”

But the white haired boy was nowhere to be found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dammit Riku! Can't you just stand still for a few moments for Kairi to knock some sense into you? (Not that she would resort to violence against her friend if it could be helped, but she is very, very tempted at this point)


	7. a shattered dominion

The trees looked...strange. Sort of blocky. That was the first thought Kairi had after she disposed of the last heartless attacking the woman by the stream. But then Kairi had been surrounded by palm trees for as long as she could remember, and none of the other worlds they had visited had a true forest like this. Maybe trees were supposed to look like that?

“Thank you for saving me,” the young woman stated, her long blonde hair bobbing in as she gave a graceful curtsy. “My name is Briar R...er... I mean Aurora.”

Kairi’s eyes furrowed at the slip up, but she gave a curtsy in reply, “My name is Kairi, and these are my friends, Donald and Goofy.” 

Aurora smiled at them, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“What were you doing out here all on your own?” Kairi asked, “Were those the only creatures around here?”

“Hmm... I’m not sure about the creatures. My father has been keeping me held up in the castle ever since...well... ever since. He wouldn’t even let me travel with my husband to his own kingdom,” Aurora sighed, “I sort of... escaped to see if I could wait for them at the edge of the forest. Though with those creatures about, I suppose it was a little foolish.” She gave a small grin, one Kairi couldn’t help but return.

“It’s okay, I think I would have done the same if I were you.”

“Would you three mind escorting me back to the gates at least?” the woman asked, “I don’t want to meet up with more of those creatures.”

“Of course!” Donald said already brandishing his staff. Goofy had his shield out. 

Together, they walked through the forest, Kairi, Donald and Goofy knocking down any of the heartless that tried to appear. Kairi thought they seemed particularly drawn to Aurora, but didn’t think anything of it. 

During the breaks where no heartless appeared, Kairi and Aurora talked, Kairi finding it refreshing to talk to another girl. While conversations with Donald and Goofy were fun, Kairi did miss her conversations on the island with Selphie. Aurora was nearly as romantic as Selphie, though not as boy crazy.

Though that probably had something to do with Aurora already finding her true love. 

Kairi laughed as Aurora finished a story about her husband, Philip, and his horse having an ‘argument’ about the horse’s carrot addiction. “Wow, he seems like quite the guy.”

Aurora nodded, “Yes. He’s even funnier than I thought he’d be.”

“Oh... did you know of him before you met him?” Kairi wondered, leaning against the nearby rock. They had decided to take a break in a clearing that the heartless seemed to be ignoring, taking the time to eat a quick snack. 

“Not exactly,” Aurora furrowed her brow, evidently trying to find the right words, “We met in a dream. It was wonderful...” she trailed off lost in the memory.

Kairi giggled, “Really? How did you know it was him when you met him for real?”

“I didn’t know it at first, but then when he touched my hand, it was like magic sparks,” Aurora held her hand close, clearly reliving the memory. “It felt like a connection, a golden bond of sorts.” She winked at Kairi, “You’ll understand when you meet your true love!”

Kairi grinned, “Oh... I think I already have,” she placed a hand over her heart. “I know we’ll be together soon.”

“I hope so!” Aurora smiled at her, “I hate being apart from Philip.” 

They left the clearing shortly afterwards, finally spotting the end of the woods. Kairi gaped at the giant castle ahead of them. “You live here?”

“Um... yes...” Aurora seemed oddly hesitant to admit that. 

As they drew nearer to the gates, Kairi began to hear shouts from the guards.

“Princess! Princess Aurora! Are you alright?” the guard shouted, then turned to his partner, “Tell the king that Princess Aurora has returned.”

“Oh, well... I suppose hoping that they wouldn’t notice I was gone was too much to ask for,” Aurora mumbled, but Kairi was a little focused on the first part of that shout.

“You’re a Princess?”

“Yes... I’m sorry I wasn’t completely honest with you in the forest. I’m not quite used to it yet,” Aurora waved off the guards who were rushing to her aid. 

Kairi shook her head, “It’s alright. Were you not born a princess?”

“No, I was. But I didn’t know it till my sixteenth birthday,” Aurora sighed, “It’s a long story, one I’d rather not remember.”

Kairi grinned, trying to cheer her up, “I can’t imagine going from normal girl to princess in less than a day.”

“It’s quite exhausting,” Aurora agreed. 

They were quickly ushered inside where Aurora was fawned over. Kairi, Donald and Goofy were thanked by the king for ‘rescuing’ the princess from ‘kidnappers.’ Aurora looked like she wanted to correct her father, but decided against it, holding her tongue and discreetly rolling her eyes. Kairi nearly giggled in front of the king. Princess or not, Aurora was definitely the average teenager. 

“You’re majesty,” Goofy stated, “We’re looking for our own king. He’s, uh... about this tall, and has big ears.” Goofy held up hand to about Donald’s height and drew circles in the air to indicate the ears. 

The king frowned, “Actually, now that you mention it, we did have a visitor like that. He did not say that he was a king, but he did ask that we keep our light safe.”

“Your light?” Kairi asked.

The king either didn’t hear her, or ignored her. “He warned us of the creatures threatening the land, which is why my daughter,” he stared at the blonde next to Kairi, “was to stay within the castle walls.”

Kairi frowned, “With respect, your majesty, the Heartless don’t care much for castle walls.”

“That may be so, but I’m afraid--” The King was cut off by a loud ringing that shook Kairi to the bones.

“Your Majesty!” a guard called, “Just outside the gates! The creatures are swarming the Prince’s entourage.”

“Philip!” Aurora called out, already turning towards the door.

“Aurora, no!” the king called, and the princess hesitated.

“But father--”

“I’ll get him!” Kairi cut in, not wanting father and daughter to fight. “Donald, Goofy and I. We can go provide back up to the prince. We’ll bring him safely to you.”

Aurora looked like she wanted to go with them, but finally acquiesced, curtsying again. “Thank you, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. Please bring my husband back safely.”

Kairi nodded and ran off, Donald and Goofy not far behind. They hurried through the castle, racing for the gate. 

As they passed a dark corridor, Kairi thought she saw a glimpse of silver white hair. She halted, Donald running into her, and Goofy running into him. 

“Hey! What’s the big idea?!” Donald rubbed his beak where it made contact with Kair’s back. 

“What’s wrong, Kairi?” Goofy asked, concerned. 

Hesitantly, Kairi stepped a little down the corridor, but she didn’t see the white hair again. Maybe it was just her imagination playing tricks. “I thought I saw.... Nevermind. It’s nothing.”

Goofy looked too, “Well... if you're sure.”

“Hurry!” Donald called out, already halfway down the hallway towards the gate. “The Heartless aren’t going to wait.”

Kairi nodded, “You’re right.”

They made it to the Prince and his entourage just in time. The heartless were starting to swarm, and Kairi had to knock more than a few out of the way to get to the prince who was fighting on horseback, a small crown perched precariously on his head. Kairi had to admire both horse and rider as neither were skittish of the black monsters trying to bring them down. 

“Get down!” Kairi called, knocking one heartless away from the prince. He nodded at her in thanks.

The prince’s entourage hurried across the bridge towards the castle while Kairi, Donald, Goofy and the prince covered their escape. 

Finally, the heartless stopped spawning. The prince dismounted his horse and petted it’s nose softly. “Good boy, Samson.” He then turned to Kairi and her companions, “Thank you for the assistance!”

“It was no problem!” Donald said, Goofy nodding alongside him. 

“We’re just doing our job,” Kairi added. 

The prince grinned then caught sight of the keyblade Kairi was still holding, “Your weapon... it wouldn’t be a keyblade... would it?”

“Huh?” Kairi furrowed her brow. “Uh.... yeah, it is. How did you know?”

“You remind me a lot of this woman I once knew. We escaped from the witch’s castle together, and her weapon was the only thing that seemed to disperse of the witch’s terrible monster’s permanently. She called it a keyblade.”

Kairi looked at her blade. There were other wielders? Then why did the blade come to her now? And what happened to the woman? The way Leon had spoken, there was only one keyblade wielder left now: Kairi. 

Kairi was startled out of her thoughts by Philip’s horse nuzzling under her arm. “Woah!”

“Samson!” Philip laughed, pulling his horse away. “Sorry about that, he must be hungry and thought your blade was food. He might deserve a few extra carrots today though.”

“He was quite brave,” Kairi said, “Most animals run at the sight of the heartless.”

“Is that what those creatures were?” the prince asked, “Well... they were no match for the dragon Samson and I fought a few years ago.” 

“Wow! A dragon?!” Kairi had only heard of such things in fairy tales.

“Yes...The witch who had imprisoned me had placed my beloved Aurora under a terrible sleeping curse. In order to prevent me from waking her, the witch turned into a terrible dragon.” He turned back to Kairi, “Actually, it was the same woman with the keyblade who also helped me defeat the witch.” 

Donald shuddered, “A witch who can turn into a dragon... I hope she’s not still around!”

“She disappeared from this world shortly afterwards. I hope she is long dead,” Philip answered solemnly.

“Who was she?” Kairi asked, curious about this strange witch.

“The fairies warn not to speak her name, for names have power to bring the dead back to life,” Philip explained, but then shrugged. “However true that is.”

“Better not risk it!” Donald advised.

They had just made it halfway over the bridge when Kairi suddenly felt nauseated. She knelt down, feeling sick to her stomach.

“What’s wrong?” Goofy asked.

Kairi shook her head, “Some....something’s wrong.”

The feeling was familiar, but it took a long moment for Kairi to place it. Too long. 

It was the same feeling she got the night her island disappeared. The one that prompted her to run towards the play island. 

A great darkness was coming. 

Just as she was about to steady herself back on her feet, a great boom rang through the land and nearly knocked her down again. 

“Kairi!” Goofy called out, “Look!”

She glanced up to where he was pointing. High above them, a great storm brewed where clear skies had been just a moment before. Right in the middle of that storm was a dark hole that was starting to suck in anything that wasn’t tied down.

Though if this was anything like the islands, soon even the ground would start to drift off. 

The bad feeling settled into Kairi’s stomach, and her heart ached with the realization that she failed. She was meant to lock the world’s keyholes so this wouldn’t happen.

And she had failed.

“Aurora!” Prince Philip called out, already hurrying towards the castle. 

Kairi ran with him, pushing the feeling of dread down and focusing on the scene in front of her. The castle residents were panicking, none sure what to make of the hole in the sky. 

“Donald!” Kairi called out, “See if you can get a hold of Chip and Dale. Have them bring the gummiship closer to the ground. We need to evacuate.”

“But the world order!” Donald protested.

“There isn’t going to be world for that to matter!” Kairi called back, already pushing her way through the crowd. “We have to get these people safely to Traverse Town! No go!” 

She didn’t wait to see if Donald listened or not, following the Prince deeper into the castle. She glanced down every darkened corridor, every nook and alcove.

Looking for even a hint of silver white hair. 

“Philip!” a new voice called out.

Kairi looked up but didn’t see anyone at first. Then she noticed three lights, red, green, and blue, hovering just ahead of them. As they approached them, the lights grew bright until three older women were standing in front of them. It took a moment for Kairi to realize that each had a pair of wings growing out of their backs. 

Fairies? More fairy tales coming true then. 

“Flora!” Philip replied, “Have you seen--”

“Something terrible has happened!” the one in green cut in, “The princess--”

“Aurora; is she--?”

“She’s been kidnapped!” the one in blue shouted.

“What?” Philip already drew his sword, “Who would do such a thing?!”

“We don’t know who he was,” the red one replied, as calm as possible in her frazzled stated, “he was a strange boy, but he used dark magic.”

“He must have been taught by that witch!” the blue one cut in, “I should have known Maleficent wasn’t gone for good!”

“Maleficent?” Kairi cut in. All three fairies turned to her. She hurried to finish her thought, “Well.... you’re right, she’s not gone for good. We think she’s the one who's causing the worlds to disappear.” A distant boom reminded her of the imminent danger, “like this one is going to.” She turned to Philip, “We need to get everyone to an open area to evacuate. My companions and I have a ship...”

“I need to save Aurora first!” Philip cut in. 

“Right...” Kairi acknowledged, “so then we--” she was cut off by another boom, this one much closer, then she heard a cracking sound above her, She looked up, just in time to see a large chunk of ceiling crashing down. Quickly, she dodged to the side, just as piles of stone and wood crashed down around her. 

When the dust settled, she found that she was one one side of the rubble, and she hoped Philip was on the other. 

“Your Highness?” She called out. She heard coughing before Philip's voice rang out.

“Kairi? Are you injured?”

Kairi stood shakily, “No.... you?”

“No.. but I’m trapped. It might take me awhile to get out of here...” There was a pause, then the three glowing lights of the fairies appeared on Kairi’s side of the rubble. “Kairi! Can you please save Aurora?”

Kairi nodded, before realizing that Philip couldn’t see her, “Of course! We’ll be back for you soon.”

She and the fairies ran off, running up more stairs than Kairi could count. All around her she saw the people still panicking and finally she had to stop and rethink her strategy. 

“Umm... fairies?” she called out, not sure how to address the glowing lights.

The lights glowed brighter for a moment before smaller versions of the fairies were hovering in front of her. 

‘Yes dear?” the red one, (Flora, Kairi thinks), asked. 

“Would it be possible for you three to keep everyone calm and direct them to a court yard of some sort? My companions are bringing their ship around..” And it’d be easier to load everyone if they weren’t trying to crowd the ship, Kairi thought but didn’t voice. 

“But Aurora-,” the blue one protested.

“She’s right, Merriweather dear,” the green one hushed. “Besides, the light is strong in this one. I’m sure she will be able to help our princess.”

The three fairies seemed to have a silent argument for a moment before Merriweather sighed. “Alright.”

Then she held up her wand and tapped Kairi gently on the forehead. 

“Just in case though, I cast a spell to help upgrade your magic,” the fairy explained. “Please use it to save the princess.”

Kairi nodded, “I will try my best!” Then she ran off in one direction while the fairies ran off in another. 

She turned down another corridor that led outside to a terrace of some sort. In the distance, she saw the glowing lights of the gummiship as it descended into a courtyard. 

“Kairi!” 

She turned and saw Donald and Goofy coming up the steps to the terrace. “Donald! Goofy!”

“What happened to the prince?” Goofy asked.

Quickly, Kairi explained what had happened. “Now we need to find Aurora,” she finished. 

Donald looked around in suspicion before his eyes widened, “Over there!”

Kairi turned and finally spotted the head of silver white hair she had been looking for. Just a few feet away, Riku was struggling to hold off a swarm of heartless, trying to reach a more open area. 

With a very unconscious blonde princess across his shoulder. 

“Riku! What are you doing?!” Kairi shouted over the roar of the world breaking apart. Donald and Goofy fought some smaller heartless while she had raced to catch up with Riku. 

She feels like she had been chasing him for ages. Catching glimpses of him in Agrabah, even fighting beside him in Monstro before he ran off again. Now here in Enchanted Dominion.

By the time Kairi caught up, her friend was halfway through a dark portal, Princess Aurora slung over his shoulder like the logs he had once carried to create the raft. He turned around and scowled. 

“This princess was once under a sleeping curse... she might hold the secret to waking him...” 

“Waking who?!” Kairi shouted, dodging one heartless after the other. “Stop playing the pronoun game! And why do you need to kidnap her to ask her questions?!” As she turned to glare at him, the look on his face caused her anger to evaporate.

It was a look of such hurt and heartbreak, Riku's normally prideful look gone, replaced with eyes darkened with sadness and longing, a furrowed brow and tight lips indicating the effort to hold back tears. He wasn't looking directly at Kairi, instead off to the side, clearly remembering something that was making his heart ache. it made Kairi's own heart ache looking at him. 

After a moment, the boy seemed to regain his composure and he scowled angrily at her. 

“Tch. I knew that you wouldn’t understand!” Riku turned to head through the dark portal. 

Kairi made to chase after him, but one of the larger heartless rammed into her, throwing her to the ground. She let out a small shocked shriek and immediately raised her keyblade to counter. She knew the next hit would probably land as well as she wasn’t in the best position to effectively defend herself. She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.

“Kairi!” 

The expected blow never landed and when Kairi opened her eyes, Riku was standing over her, blocking the heartless. Kairi turned back to the dark portal. Princess Aurora was already gone.

Another failure. 

But why had Riku come back?

“Go on!” Riku shouted, dispatching the heartless with a few swings of his sword. “Go back to your new friends! Get back to that ship of yours!”

“What but... you...” Kairi quickly jumped to her feet, swinging at the few heartless that had begun targeting Riku. 

“Just go...”

“Kairi! We have to go!” Donald cried out. 

“But--” Kairi looked around her at the devastation, so much like how Destiny Islands looked right before she had been sucked into the void. Chunks of earth and buildings were rising out of the ground and towards the black hole in the sky. 

“Go Kairi!” Riku shouted and pushed her towards Donald and Goofy, then he turned and opened another portal stepping through it just as the ground between them started to break apart. 

Kairi wanted to follow, to do something to find out why Riku was acting so strange, but Goofy caught her arm and pulled her back. They barely made it to the Gummiship in time, loading it with as many citizens as they could, including the three fairies. 

They couldn’t save everyone. 

It took a lot of forced cheer to get their overburdened ship back to Traverse Town. Even the thought of Sora could barely get Kairi to grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Kairi...but you can't save them all (and Aqua has to chase down the glowy remnants of her friends while dodging Darksides on thorny vines and then defeating a suped up darkside in this world very soon...so it kind of had to go...)... plus I thought it was a little unrealistic that Sora manages to save all the worlds that he visited in the first go. (and i was very confused at end of game where you save the worlds, but the fractured worlds at the "End of the World" world were all the worlds you visited... so did they get taken by the darkness anyway???) 
> 
> So this chapter was only 1.5 pages when I left for the conference Sunday morning. Over the course of the conference, I thought up 8.5 more pages of story to include. Because once I got Kairi actually interacting in these worlds, I couldn't actually...stop. 
> 
> I kind of made up Aurora's personality. She has 18 lines of dialogue and just as much screentime in her actual movie so there's not much personality there to work with. (and we are not counting the Enchanted Princesses: Follow Your Dreams movie short, cause no... just... no.) She's kind, sweet, romantic...and sixteen years old in her movie. I'm pretty sure that even in the 14th century (or whatever the KH equivalent of that is) all teenagers have some sort of attitude. But i also made her married because... 14th century, they weren't that ahead of their times, (though she is technically 18 in the fic...see next paragraph)
> 
> Also, I messed with the world "time axis" a bit. (and we know from DDD that each world does run on a different "time axis) So while 10 years passed for our main characters since birth by sleep, time passed slower in the different worlds, so for Enchanted Dominion it's only been about two ish years. It's the only way I could reasonably explain why Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella look like their movie selves in KH while their worlds and stories were explored in a game set 10 years prior. Aurora and Cinderella might be able to play it off, but after 10 years, a 23-24 year old Snow White would definitely look different from her 13-14 self as she is in her movie. Just saying.


	8. the second star

“You should be less worried about your those two, and more worried about...him...” 

Riku stepped aside, revealing spiky brown hair. 

“Sora!” Kairi reached out but was stopped by the pirates holding her hostage. “Where did you find him?!”

“What does that matter to you? You weren’t looking for him that hard!” Riku shouted. 

Like all the other times Kairi had seen Riku on her journey, in Traverse Town, inside Monstro, and even when he saved her on the torn apart remains of Enchanted Dominion. Riku sounded...wrong. Now though, there was so much anger in his voice, so much hate. A lot of it directed at her. It made her heart ache to see her friend like this. She clenched a fist around her keyblade and glared up at him. “Shut up! Of course I have!” Glancing back at Sora’s face, she saw that he appeared to be sleeping. “Sora! Wake up! Knock some sense into him!”

Riku huffed, “He won’t wake....no matter what I try.”

The last part was said softly, more to himself than to Kairi, but she heard it all the same. She was reminded of the heartbroken look Riku had carried in Enchanted Dominion. 

“Anyway, I’m through with you,” Riku turned around, easily picking up Sora and taking him into another room. 

Kairi’s felt her face flush, angry at the dismissal. “Well, I’m not through with--” her words cut off into a scream as she felt the floor give way and suddenly she was falling down into darkness. 

She landed on something squishy... and feathery?

“Get off!” Donald’s voice quacked in her ear. Groaning, Kairi rolled over and onto a wooden floor. 

“Sora...” She whispered, mostly to herself, but Goofy, the dazed, yet occasionally attentive knight, heard her anyway. 

“What’s wrong, Kairi?”

“I saw him! Sora!” she couldn’t help but let out a grin. “He’s okay!”

“That’s great!” Donald and Goofy said together. 

She laughed and nodded, “Yeah... Riku found him...”

Donald put the pieces together just slightly faster than Goofy. “Well... if Riku found him... and you saw him... did you see Riku too?”

The grin fell from her face, “Yeah... He’s the one who put me in here... he can control the heartless now.”

“That’s not good!” Goofy worried. 

“I know... but...” Kairi shrugged. “I don’t know, there’s just... there’s something wrong with him.”

“Well of course there is if he sided with the heartless!” Donald reasoned, waving his staff around as if just waiting for a chance to bash Riku on the head with it. Kairi considered letting him. 

“Yeah but...”

“Don’t worry, Kairi! I’m sure your friend Sora can talk some sense into him!” Goofy reassured her. 

She hoped that would be true, but Riku’s words haunted her. 

_“He won’t wake... no matter what I try...”_

What did that mean? Sure, Sora slept like a rock, but if Kairi couldn’t awaken him, usually Riku could. Kairi sighed, “Well... We won’t do any good here, so let’s just...” she trailed off and summoned her keyblade, pointing it at the door. 

As a light shone and unlocked the door, she almost had to huff out a breath of laughter, thinking, _‘Honestly Riku, it’s a_ key _blade. You think a locked door is gonna stop me?’_

But then again... maybe he did know that. She shook her head, focusing on the task ahead: escaping the ship and rescuing Sora if possible. 

As she took a step out the door, a bright light startled her, nearly causing her to fall deeper into the ship. 

“Hey! Tink!” a voice shouted from beyond a few barrels.

As Kairi blinked, regaining her balance, she saw that the bright light was actually a tiny...person? With wings? Was it another fairy from Enchanted Dominion? 

“Tink!” the voice shouted again, and Kairi was once again knocked unbalanced by the boy that bumped into her. Startled, she fell off the precarious ledge she was on and let out a yell. Suddenly, arms wrapped around her and she was gently placed back on the ledge.

“Sorry about that. Got ahead of myself!” 

Kairi let Donald and Goofy steady her as she regained her footing and stared at the boy who had rescued her. “Well, you should look before you...” she trailed off as she noticed that the boy was in front of her. 

Over the ledge. Floating over the steep drop below. 

The boy grinned, “I’m Peter! Peter Pan!” 

Kairi nodded, “I’m Kairi! These are my friends, Donald and Goofy.” She pointed to where Peter was still floating.“How are you doing that?!”

“Pixie dust of course!” Peter answered with a grin. “It’s easy! All you have to do is think of a happy thought. And with a little Pixie Dust, you can fly too!”

“Pixie dust?” Kairi looked closer and saw that tiny particles of what looked like golden sand seemed to be ingrained in Peter’s whole being, from his clothes to his hair. It kind of reminded of her Sora and Riku after they wrestled in the beach sand. “And it lets you fly?”

“Sure!” Peter grinned, “I’d teach you, but I don’t have time right now. I have to save Wendy!” He made to fly off, but Kairi grabbed ahold of his ankle before he could get too far.

“Wait!” She pulled him back down, “I’m looking for someone too. A boy with spiky brown hair. Have you seen him?”

Peter shook his head, “No... but maybe it’ll be easier to look for them together.”

“Great!” Kairi grinned. 

“But you can’t keep up with me by just walking...” Peter turned to the glowing light, Tinkerbell. “Tink, do your stuff.”

The tiny pixie shook her head and stomped her foot, turning her nose up at the thought.

“Aww... c’mon Tink,” the boy groaned before picking the fairy from the air, “Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn about it.” He shook her lightly over Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.

Kairi watched in amazement as the golden sand settled around her. She didn’t feel any lighter, but she could sense the magic in the glitter. 

“Now,” Peter began, “Think of a happy thought...”

Kairi closed her eyes and thought of the last sunset before the islands disappeared, standing on the dock with Sora at her side. When she opened her eyes, Donald and Goofy were already floating over the lower decks below. Grinning, she jumped off the ledge to join them. Her feet left the ledge and she floated for a second...

Before plummeting down like a rock. 

Lucky for her, Peter had fast reflexes and he caught her mid fall. Above her, she saw Goofy and Donald looking in concern, while Tinkerbell was doubled over in laughter. 

“Hmm... must not have been happy enough. You got anything stronger?” Peter wondered, setting her back down on the ledge. 

Kairi frowned. Why had the moments of her and Sora alone together not been happy enough? She furrowed her brow, closing her eyes and instead thinking of another night, when she, Sora, and Riku were first planning their trip while sitting in their usual spot on the papou island. The sun had been warm and the waves peaceful as they crashed on the shore. The other kids had gone home for the day so it was just them on their island. Sora and Riku had just been teasing each other about something, and were now trying to rope her into it. Sora was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of the tree, while Riku looked on fondly, a true smile hovering on his lips. Kairi remembered thinking that she wished every day could have been just like that. 

“That’s more like it!” she heard Peter call out.  
Kairi opened her eyes a let out a shout of surprise. She had been standing on the ledge a moment before, but now was hovering several feet above it. She looked down at Donald and Goofy who were grinning up at her.

“Good job, Kairi!” Goofy cried out, Donald nodding in agreement.

Kairi grinned back. Together, they zipped through all the floors in the ship, knocking out the heartless in pirate attire easily.

“That old codfish seems to have replaced his entire crew with these creatures,” Peter muttered, dispatching another one. “There’s no end to them.”

“They’re swarming everywhere!” Kairi agreed, then spotted a door the heartless seemed to be ignoring. “Hang on, let’s duck in here. Maybe there’s a way to the upper deck.” She quickly opened the door and ushered everyone inside.

“We can’t hide in here forever!” Peter grumbled. 

“Peter? Is that you?” a voice called from above.

“Wendy!” Peter cried out, immediately floating up towards the grate in the ceiling. A girls face stared back down at them. 

“Oh, Peter! It is you!” the girl smiled, “I’m so glad!”

“Don’t worry, Wendy,” Peter grinned, “Kairi and I will get you out of there soon enough.”

Kairi waved her hand in greeting. “Excuse me, Wendy? Is there someone else there with you?”

Wendy glanced up to someplace just out of Kairi’s line of sight. “Why yes. There’s a boy here too, but he appears to be sleeping.”

“Sora? Sora’s there?” Instantly, Kairi tried to shake the grate, but it was locked in tight to the decking. “Sora! Can you hear me? C’mon! Wake up you sleepyhead!” 

Finally a hand drifted down over the grate, fingers twitching. Kairi reached up and touched them gently.

Sora’s fingers were warm, almost feverish. Inwardly, Kairi reached out along their connection, hoping it’d be enough to wake the sleeping brunet. If she could just reach him.

“...ku...” Sora mumbled. 

“It’s me!” Kairi called out, “It’s Kairi!”

“Ku...” Sora mumbled again. “....Ri.....ku....” his fingers twitched out of Kairi’s reached. “Ri....ku...”

Kairi dropped her hand, not a moment too soon for the door to where Wendy and Sora were locked had opened.

“Did he say something?”

Wendy backed up, trying to block Riku’s view of the grate in the floor, “Yes... he keeps mumbling something...” before she could mention what it was, Sora mumbled again. 

“Ri...ku?”

Kairi heard Riku laugh softly, so unlike the previous times she had heard him both before and after their world fell. It was fond, and a little sad.

“That’s right, Sor. It’s me...” Riku whispered, “It’s alright, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Ri...” Sora mumbled again, then fell silent.

“He must be dreaming about you...” Wendy said . “He hasn’t woken for anything else.”

“Felt like I could hear him all the way on deck,” Riku said. There was a soft noise and when Kairi could see Riku again, she saw that he held Sora in his arms. “I told Hook to let you go. Maleficent doesn’t need you for what she’s planning, but the captain...”

“I understand... he wants to use me as bait for Peter.” Wendy let out a sigh.

“Right...well, I can’t stay around here while he wastes time trying to get his revenge. ” Riku started to walk back towards the door, before hesitating. Turning, he glanced down at the grate.

Right at where Kairi was still hovering. 

He paused for just a moment longer before turning around. Kairi watched as he disappeared through a dark portal, Sora still cradled protectively in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Yay Kairi found Sora! Kinda? Sorta? And yes, he is sleeping... like a rock. Wake up Sora! You gotta go beat some sense into Riku! :D
> 
> I always have mixed feelings on Peter Pan. On the one hand, I really don't like the book, or the movie, or the character (blasphemy, I know) ... but I really, really like the song "the second star to the right" and that is almost enough to make me like the disney Peter Pan. almost. I like Peter best in the Kingdom Hearts series though, so there is that.


	9. a brief respite

The brief return to Traverse Town raised more questions than they answered. 

Cid managed to fix up their gummiship from where it had rammed into Hook’s pirate ship. He even installed the new navigation gummiblock so they could go to Hollow Bastion. Everything seemed to be leading there. 

Before they left though, Kairi had a few more questions she needed to ask. 

The bits and pieces Riku had let slip on the occasions they had run into each other were starting to add up. 

Sora was asleep, and it appears it was not a normal sleep as neither she nor Riku could wake him. Riku also kidnapped a princess from Enchanted Dominion because she had once been under a sleeping curse, believing that she would be able to help Sora wake up. Did that mean Sora was under a sleeping curse too? Or something worse?

The remaining citizens of Enchanted Dominion had settled in odd and end places around Traverse Town, so it took a while to track down those who knew Princess Aurora, but Kairi was determined. Riku had said that the princess could hold the key to awakening him. Kairi now realized he meant Sora and she had to find out what Riku meant. 

Goofy and Donald trailed behind, more eager to leave and head towards Hollow Bastion, hoping that their King would be there. 

“I’m sure we can find a way to wake Sora when we get there,” Donald reasoned. 

“Maybe... but I have to make sure...” Kairi trailed off as they entered Merlin’s house, where the three fairies were staying. “Hello?”

“Hello, dear,” a warm but sad voice answered her and Kairi turned, watching three glowing orbs -red, green, and blue - floated towards her. Their light became brighter before three fairies stood before her. “Have you heard anything about Aurora?” the one in red, Flora, asked. 

“Not yet,” Kairi sighed, “But I’m hoping you can help me with another matter.... The boy who took her...”

“Wicked boy!” the blue fairy, Merryweather, huffed. 

“He’s not bad!” Kairi tried to argue, but found that her heart wasn’t in it. “He’s just... I don’t know...” Kairi sighed and absently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But something he said right before he left... He said that Princess Aurora was the key to waking my other friend, Sora, up.”

“Your friend?” Fauna, the green fairy, asked.

“Yeah, Sora’s asleep. He wouldn’t wake up even when I shouted at him. Riku indicated that he tried as well... but... I mean, Sora could sleep through a hurricane, but if I couldn’t wake him up, Riku always could.” Kairi felt her voice break and she grew quiet, embarrassingly finding herself close to tears. She just wanted her friends back. 

“Oh dear... and he won’t wake?” Merryweather’s wings flapped in agitation. 

“It sounds like the sleeping curse our Aurora was under... His heart is sleeping.” Flora’s voice was soft as she continued to explain. “I’ve heard it can also happen when one is nearly taken by the deepest darkness. Aurora was awoken only with true love’s kiss.”

“True love’s kiss?” Kairi felt her cheeks redden and she tried to hide behind her hands. Behind her, she heard Donald and Goofy giggle. 

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a kiss,” Fauna spoke up. “Any act of true love can break a curse.”

“If it is a curse,” Kairi sighed. 

“Maybe when we see Sora again, you can kiss him to see if it works,” Donald was still giggling and Kairi had to take a deep breath to remind herself why she couldn’t pluck all his feathers. He was the healer of the group. Most of the time. 

Then again...

“Yeah... maybe...” Kairi tried to grin. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

Inside though, Kairi wasn’t so sure it would work. She loved Sora, she knew that. But was it true love?

She remembered touching her fingers to Sora through the grate on Hook’s ship. Sora’s fingers had been warm and comforting, but there hadn’t been that spark Aurora spoke of. And even the memory of just the two of them hadn’t been happy enough to grant her flight. 

What if what she felt for Sora wasn’t the true love she thought it was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss~ and a prince, I'm hoping comes with this~ <\-- does anyone else wonder how an Enchanted world would work in Kingdom Hearts? Would the real world be just as harsh to Sora? Would his hair stop defying gravity. Would donald and goofy get turned in to "real" animals? 
> 
> Super Short update, i know, but get prepared for a couple of long updates coming up!


	10. a friend in need

Riku met them at the steps leading up to Hollow Bastion. 

Something about him put Kairi immediately on edge. “Riku?”

“Well, c’mon,” Riku held out his hand, looking like he did so long ago on the islands.

And Kairi got that same feeling that she shouldn’t take it. “What do you want?”

“Suspicious of an old friend?” Riku’s voice was dry. “Well... I guess since you have so many new friends now...”

“Shut up, Riku!” Kairi was fed up. What was wrong with him?! “You and Sora are still my best friends. I just want you back so we can go home!”

“Go home where?!” Riku asked, voice rising. “Our island isn’t there anymore! Isn’t this what we wanted? To see new worlds? Didn’t you want to find where you came from? Well, congratulations, Kairi, you found it!”

Kairi gasped and looked around her. Nothing looked familiar at all. “What do you mean?”

“You’re all over the records for this place, Princess.” 

“What?” Kairi placed her hands on her hips, “Who are you calling princess?”

Riku scoffed, “Follow me and you’ll find out.”

“No. Not till you tell me where Sora is,” Kairi stared him down, something that had been harder to do since his growth spurt a year ago. 

Riku hesitated for a moment, and Kairi could practically see him holding back the sarcastic answer. “He’s up at the castle. Just...c’mon.” 

Kairi sighed and motioned for Donald and Goofy to follow. They took a lift up to the castle gates. She glanced over the side of the lift at the decimated and shattered streets below. Distantly, she thought she could make out a mosaic pattern in the streets, and maybe the remains of a garden or two. 

A sudden pain in her head had her lurching back from the edge.

“Are you okay, Kairi?” Goofy asked, helping her remain steady. 

“Yeah...just... a sudden pain.” Kairi rubbed at her head. 

Donald offered a quick healing spell, which she accepted. Through the greenish glow she managed to see Riku glance over in concern as well before quickly looking away when he noticed her gaze. 

The Riku she knew was still in there. She just had to get him to see reason.   
They followed Riku through a pair of large doors and into a darkened room. When Kairi glanced up, she thought she saw a similar mosaic pattern in the tiles of the ceiling. There were lamps all throughout the room, but their candles didn’t give off much light. 

“I can reach him better in here,” Riku said, already holding out a hand in the same way Kairi had seen when he was calling on a dark portal. 

The hand was also shaking. 

“Wait, Riku,” Kairi grabbed his risk before the portal could form properly. She nearly jerked her hand back as a spike of dark energy caused a sharp pain to travel up her arm and into her heart. She looked up at Riku’s face. Up close, she could see the drops of sweat at his temples and the haziness in his eyes. She tightened her grip on his arms and felt his racing heartbeat, as if he had just run up three flights rather than taken a brisk walk through the door. “Riku...what’s happening to you?”

Riku shook off her hand, “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Kairi argued. 

Before Riku could respond a deep growl resonated through the hall. From the shadows a huge creatures lunged at Riku who barely dodged out of the way, pushing Kairi to the ground as he did. 

The creature stood shakily and roared, the sound ringing in Kairi’s ears. He charged at Riku again who summoned his keyblade and fought back. 

“Where’s Belle?!” The creature roared, swiping at Riku’s chest with sharp claws. 

Riku ignored the question, kicking the creature in the chest and dodging out of it’s reach. 

The creature stumbled back a few steps before collapsing. He did not get back up.

As Kairi hesitantly crept closer, she saw a myriad of bruises and deep scratches all along the creatures hide. She motioned for Donald and Goofy to step closer as well. Donald raised his staff to heal the poor creatures. 

Suddenly, Kairi felt a dark presence behind her, and she instinctively raised her keyblade to guard. A clang rang out. It took Kairi a moment to realized that her opponent was Riku, who had tried to strike at the creature again while he was down. 

Grunting, she pushed Riku away from where he was about to slice open the injured creature behind her. He backed off, but not far, his blade raised. 

“What is wrong with you Riku?! He’s hurt,” Kairi looked back at the creature.

He was breathing slow, but steady, his eyes slightly hazed over and several wounds bleeding sluggishly. Donald’s cure spell had healed the worse of the wounds, and she raised her keyblade to heal a few more. 

“You saw him try to attack me!” Riku defended. 

“And then immediately collapse,” Kairi shouted back. “He’s not exactly a threat now.”

“He’s a monster,” the boy spat, “Been chasing me from world to world.”

“You took Belle,” the creature rumbled, the healing spells helping him regain consciousness, “You took her...”

Kairi remembered a world falling apart while Riku avoided all her questions as he kidnapped Princess Aurora. Now it seems Riku had taken someone else.

“What did you do, Riku?” Kairi asked, eyes narrowing and keyblade still raised. “Why are you taking these people?”

“Cause they’ll help Sora wake up.” Riku’s hands curled into fists, “If the first plan doesn’t work.”

“What first plan? Riku what are you doing?!” 

Riku raised his hands, opening a dark portal. After a moment, Sora fell through, still sleeping. Riku caught him easily before the brunet face planted and laid him gently to the ground. 

“You gotta kiss him, Kairi.”

Unlike the arrogance from just a few seconds ago, Riku’s voice grew quiet at the statement. 

“Excuse me?” Kairi was stunned. A statement like that seemed to come out of nowhere. 

“True love’s kiss might wake him up...” Riku elaborated. “It can break a spell over a sleeping heart.”

Hesitantly, Kairi walked over and knelt beside Riku. For as long as Sora was asleep, he didn’t seem to be any worse for wear. Riku wouldn’t meet her gaze as he propped the brunet up so Kairi could kiss him easier.

Kairi knelt forward, before hesitating for a long moment, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. She always kind of thought her first kiss with Sora would be a bit more romantic. There wouldn’t be any dried drool on Sora’s lips for one, and Riku probably wouldn’t have been present for another. She thought it would happen at sunset, maybe, on the papou island. 

But it was here, in a cold darkened castle, with several onlookers.

Then she looked at Riku. His eyes were closed and he was looking away, probably in some sort of obligation to give Kairi privacy to kiss Sora... or in a denial that it was going to happen. His hands were gripping Sora’s shoulders, his thumb absently brushing against Sora’s bicep, the other wrapped tightly around the brunet’s waist. Despite whatever it was that was making him act strangely and looking so ill, he was clearly worried to death over their friend. 

Kairi decided to just go for it, pursing her lips slightly and kissing Sora on the lips. It was awkward. 

She leaned back up quickly, resisting the urge to wipe her mouth off. 

Nothing happened. 

Right. 

Riku blinked opened his eyes, and stared at Sora’s sill sleeping face, “What are you waiting for?”

“Riku...” Kari sighed. “It’s not going to work.”

“What?”

“I tried... nothing happened.”

“Did you try hard enough?” Riku pulled Sora closer to his chest, glaring at Kairi, “Don’t you love him enough?”

“Of course I do!” Kairi shouted, temper rising even as her own heart was breaking. She loved Sora more than anything! She knew she did! Why wasn’t that enough? “But maybe it’s not enough.”

Riku scoffed, “Maleficent was right. I shouldn’t believe in fairy tales.” He gathered Sora up and made to leave once again. 

Kairi grabbed on to his arm before he could run too far. “If you don’t think I love him enough, maybe you should kiss him yourself!” 

She had said it more as a challenge. One she was sure Riku would refuse outright. 

Riku hesitated. Long enough for Kairi to start connecting the dots again. She could hit herself with the keyblade for being so slow. 

Of course.

“You love him, don’t you?” Kairi asked softly. “Riku... Sora wouldn’t want you to--”

“Want me to what?!” Riku turned his head to glare at her, jerking his arm out of her grip. “Worry over him? Too late. Unlike you, always waiting for someone to save you, who was always saving Sora? He may not be weak like you, but he still needs someone to protect him.” He turned back around, opening a dark corridor, “I’m going to save Sora. It’s my job. It always has been.” He ran through the portal, it closing quickly behind him. 

Kairi could only watch him go. 

She suddenly remembered Sora’s face when she had suggesting taking the raft for themselves and leaving Riku behind. To Sora, the suggestion had been unthinkable. 

Kairi realized something then and there. It wasn’t because she didn’t love Sora enough that the kiss didn’t work.... It was because true love was a two way street. 

She also knew that if Riku had been the one to kiss Sora, the brunet would wake up. 

_Boys._

“He’s gone again...” the creatured behind her rumbled, startling Kairi out of her thoughts.

“Yeah...” Kairi blushed, “Sorry... we kind of got side tracked. I’m not sure what’s getting into him. The Riku I know would never do something so dark as kidnap someone.”

“His heart has been tainted by darkness...” the creature stated. “It can corrupt... I would understand that more than anything...”

Kairi looked back to where Riku disappeared and fiddled with her good luck charm in her pocket for a moment before turning back to the creature. “What will you do now?”

“Belle is somewhere in the castle,” he rumbled, “I can feel it in my heart.”

“Okay, then we’ll help you find her,” she looked up at Donald and Goofy, “right?”

The two nodded in agreement. 

The redhead held out her hand to help the creature up. “What’s your name? I’m Kairi! This is Donald and Goofy.” 

He took her hand, “I had a name once, but I can’t remember it now. Most just call me Beast.”

“Okay then, Beast,” Kairi nodded, “We’ll search the whole castle for Belle if we have too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the chapter that I struggled with the most. It went through so many rewrites in the past 48 hours, but in the end i went with this version (mostly because it worked better for a scene I have planned in the sequel...shhh)


	11. the light within

In true fairy tale fashion, Belle ended up being in the highest room of the tallest tower of the castle, and they had to take a maze of lifts to get there.

Kairi was still feeling overwhelmed by their trip through the library. She had merely meant to glance at the opened storybook, but then the words began to spark memories.

_...Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it..._

_...fragments of light survived in the hearts of children..._

_...true light sleeps, deep within the darkness..._

_Listen child, even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you..._

Donald and Goofy found her holding back sobs in the corner of the library, under the stairs where she used to play hide and seek with her grandmother.

She had a grandmother.

More memories began to slip through the cracks in the door. Her parents passed away when she was young, so her grandmother took her in. A childhood filled with light and flowers.

A woman placing a magic spell on her necklace.

_“If you are ever in danger, the light from you will guide you to the light of another who will keep you safe.”_

At first she thought of Sora, whose light surely shone bright enough to cast away the darkest shadows. But then she looked at the keyblade still in her hand. Maybe that was the light, and she would have to save herself.

She didn’t have time to dwell on it. Kairi and the others raced through the castle, just in time to deal with Maleficent, both in her human form, and her far less pleasant dragon one.

“It’s okay Tink,” Kairi later stated to the exhausted fairy. The little being had run herself ragged trying to keep everyone healed while Maleficent tore the room apart and set everything on fire. “Go home to Peter, we can handle everything else. Promise!”

Tinkerbell nodded before flying off with a pop as she headed back to Neverland. Then Kairi and the others stepped into the grand hall.

“Belle!” Beast ran over to where a girl with brown hair was sleeping in some sort of capsule. She continued to sleep even as Beast banged on the glass.

“She won’t wake,” a voice behind them said, “None of them will.”

Kairi glanced up and spotted a familiar head of silver hair sitting on the ledge above them.

But that was where the familiarities ended. Something was seriously off.

Riku jumped off the ledge, landing much more gracefully on the floor than Kairi thought he could. His clothes had changed, now wearing some sort of skin tight black and purple suit and a weird skirt/cape thing. The heartless symbol rested on his chest.

Kairi immediately called out her keyblade, “Who are you? You’re not Riku!”

The person possessing her friend scoffed, “Perceptive. I am not Riku.”

Beast charged at the being, “Let Belle go!’

Possessed Riku didn’t even flinch, just held a hand out and created a barrier that knocked Beast into the wall. Donald and Goofy tried as well, but Riku dodged their attacks effortlessly, jumping up and landing on the platform in the room. There was a glow coming from the back wall, and when Kairi ran up the staircase nearby, she saw what must have been the keyhole to this world, corrupted by a myriad of dark colors.

Possessed-Riku had landed near the keyhole and at his feet was Sora.

“Sora!” Kairi cried out, running over to him and lifting Sora’s head up. The boy was still sleeping.

She heard a clang and saw that a keyblade had been tossed towards her.

“It’s almost funny how easy it was to manipulate this boy into giving into the darkness.”

Kairi felt a shiver of disgust roll down her spine at the expression on Riku’s face. Her friend may have been arrogant on occasion and more than a bit of show off. But he was never cruel. His voice was all wrong, almost like another, deeper echoed beneath it. A dark voice that came from Kairi’s nightmares.

“Who are you?” Kairi repeated, “What did you do to Riku?”

“Oh, his body’s still here,” the figure pointed to himself, “His heart may even be struggling to hold on for a moment longer.” He laughed as he stepped closer, “As for who I am... It is I, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.”

Kairi frowned, “Ansem... but he was the ruler of this place... he was looking into the...” Kairi trailed off, Leon’s description of the man coming back.

“Looking into the darkness of people’s hearts, yes. And I found it,” Ansem’s expression twisted Riku’s features into something unrecognizable. “Take this boy, Riku, for example. So easy to manipulate to the darkness. He was already filled with jealousy and anger towards his friends. Knowing that the one he loved would never love him back.”

Kairi frowned, “But I don’t understand. Love is--”

Ansem’s scoff cut her off, “Love is often proclaimed to be the lights greatest magic. But it is also the most easily manipulated. The boy just thought that he needed to become stronger to save his love. Thus he gave into the darkness. And opened his heart to me.”

Kairi felt her heart ache as Riku’s fate, “Oh, Riku...” She should have pushed harder for him to see.

If she had just noticed sooner how strong Riku’s feelings were. If she had realized that Sora felt the same.

She shook her head. She couldn’t focus on that now. She couldn’t blame herself or keep wishing to go back in time and fix it all. She made her choices, just as Riku made his. Now she may have lost both of her friends forever.

She laid Sora gently back to the floor and called her keyblade, “So... now I just have to defeat you for both Sora and Riku.” She raised her keyblade ready to strike.

Ansem laughed, “You are not nearly strong enough to defeat me, little Princess...” He pointed towards the keyblade he had tossed to her earlier. “But I can give you the opportunity to awaken your friend there...”

“Huh?” Kairi kept her keyblade raised just in case.

“The keyhole behind me. When it is finished, it will lead to Kingdom Hearts. Perhaps within that realm lies the answer to awakening your friend. But the keyhole is incomplete; it still needs the heart of the seventh princess.” He looked straight at her.

“Princess?” Ever since Riku had called her that back at the falls, the title had resonated with her echoing with her heart. At the time, she thought Riku was just trying to make her feel useless. Some of the other boys on the islands would call girls that when they felt the girls were acting too ‘prissy.’ She had only been called that once when she was younger and Riku had proceeded to make Tidus eat sand until he apologized.

But now it felt like there was an actual title to it.

“The Princesses of Heart. Seven maidens with lights completely devoid of darkness. I had Riku and Maleficent assemble the first six, but the boy was reluctant to try to capture you.”

Kairi looked back at the glass cases. Donald and Goofy were trying to release several others, but to no avail, while Beast kept pounding away at the glass imprisoning Belle. The Princess Aurora was there, as was Alice and Jasmine. A girl with dark hair and another with blonde that Kairi didn’t recognize, but figured they were also Princesses. Then the rest of what Ansem said hit her.

“Capture me? I’m a ...”

“A princess of heart...” Ansem-Riku pointed again towards the keyblade he had tossed. “Unlock your heart with the keyblade of heart! Complete the Keyhole.”

“Never!” Kairi growled, “You’ll just use it to spread the darkness.”

Ansem-Riku smirked and didn’t deny it, “But you could also save your friend.”

Kairi looked back at Sora, still sleeping peacefully, like nothing was wrong. She turned back to the man impersonating her friend. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Sora’s heart is sleeping in the deepest darkness.” Ansem crossed his arms across his chest, another gesture that reminded Kairi of Riku, but was just a cruel parody of it. “As I said, Kingdom Hearts holds answers to that darkness. Perhaps it holds the answers.”

“Kairi don’t listen to him!” Donald quacked, “He’s just trying to trick you!”

Kairi looked back at the portal and then to the sleeping princesses. Then she raised her keyblade again, “How bout I just beat you first?”

“Heh,” Ansem scoffed, then called the other keyblade back to him. The keyblade of heart he had said.

Kairi closed her eyes, “I’m sorry, Riku. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Trust me, he’s past caring now,” came Riku’s warped voice above her. Kairi gasped and raised her keyblade, blocking the blow.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Donald and Goofy fighting against the barrier, but it wouldn’t budge.

Ansem-Riku attack were relentless. She had to roll, cartwheel and use every deflect technique she knew before she could even dream of getting an opening. They were few and far between and the white haired boy barely flinched when she did land a blow. She did her best to keep the fight away from Sora. Luckily, her opponent cared more about beating her than the boy sleeping just a few feet away.

Kairi had just managed to land a whole three blows, finishing with an lunge technique Leon had taught her. Ansem-Riku even flinched for a second before vanishing.

“Is that it?” he asked mockingly, then moved so fast Kairi barely had time to turn before he was slamming his blade into her back. She recovered quick enough, casting a cure to cover the damage.

_Just stay still for two seconds_ , she thought, dodging another attack, _just two seconds..._

“Release your heart, Princess!”

The Arena went dark. Kairi only had a split second before the white haired figure came rushing at her. She thought of her happy thought quickly and jumped. Thankfully, Tinkerbell must have left enough pixie dust on her clothes for she floated for a few seconds, just long enough for her opponent to miss her completely. He tried to change directions but over compensated, stumbling a little bit. The arena lightened back up.

Kairi took her opening. She slammed the keyblade hard against Riku’s form, wincing inwardly at the bruises she was undoubtedly leaving behind.

Ansem-Riku stumbled, then fell eventually fading away. The keyblade of heart tumbled out of his hand and onto the ground with a clang.

“Riku!” she cried out, but her friend, or whatever was left of him, was gone again.

“Kairi! The Keyhole!” Donald called out.

Kairi looked back and saw that in the time she and Ansem had been fighting, the keyhole had become more corrupted, sparking erratically.

She help up her keyblade, but no matter how hard she focused, the keyhole remained opened.

“I don’t think we can close the keyhole unless it’s finished,” Goofy worried, he and Donald finally getting past the barrier.

Kairi frowned and redoubled her efforts into closing the keyhole, but her keyblade was not responding. Goofy was right. They couldn’t close an uncompleted keyhole. It would exist in this corrupted state, leaking darkness into all the worlds. And the princesses would never wake up, not until the keyhole was completed.

And maybe... maybe whatever was on the other side could help Sora awaken.

And her heart was the final piece.

She sent her keyblade away and picked up the one that Ansem had left behind. It felt different than her usual keyblade, heavier in a way. It was a cleaner design too, dark grey with a red hilt and a broken heart shape near the tip.

She grinned at Donald and Goofy who turned and had just now realized her intentions.

“Kairi, don’t!” Donald shouted.

“Kairi!” Goofy called out.

“I’m not sure what’s gonna happen,” she called out to them. “But you’ll need to get Sora to safety, okay? Close the keyhole if you can.” She didn’t wait for her answer, not wanting to put it off any longer.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged the blade into her own chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert epic version of simple and clean here*
> 
> I know that the explanation for Sora is a little hokey, and it will get explained a little better later on in the fic, but it's what I got. I didn't want to take away Kairi's princess of heart status because it is a big part of who she is, but also, why can't she be a princess and kick Ansem's ass with a flowery keyblade? 
> 
> And yes, I also know that I completely skipped over Maleficent's fight (and basically her entire character). but I'm afraid I only had enough energy to relive one crazy annoying fight in this chapter and Ansem-Riku was a bit more important. 
> 
> Kudos to whoever caught the Shrek reference.


	12. an act of true love

It wasn’t quite like going to sleep. Not really. More like falling without caring. 

She drifted, and she was vaguely aware of things going on around her, but it didn’t connect with her. She knew two figures had reached her to prevent her body from crashing to the ground, but she couldn’t remember their names, and their faces were blurry and indistinct.

She knew the figure now laying next to her was precious to her, but again, a name escaped her. 

Did it begin with an ‘s’?

There was another figure, much more menacing standing just a few feet away. The thought of it caused an ache to form from far away.

The feeling of drifting lasted a moment more before everything was filled with light. 

Feeling began returned to her slowly, and names and faces began coming back. She glanced up, grinning at Donald and Goofy. Sora was still beside her, still asleep. 

She looked at the keyhole, which was still leaking darkness, but was no longer sparking in its corrupted state. It could be closed now. 

“Well...that was dramatic,” a voice drawled above them. Kairi glanced up.

Where the body of Riku once stood was now another man. He had Riku’s silver hair, but it was completely straight and fell to his waist. His clothes had changed again and the heartless symbol was emblazoned across his chest. 

Kairi’s heart dropped to her stomach. Had she lost her friend for good?

“Thank you, Princess, but I’m afraid I have no use for you or this sleeping boy any longer.” He raised the blade Riku had been carrying ready to strike at Sora’s heart. 

“No!” Kairi cried out, but her body wouldn’t react fast enough and neither Donald nor Goofy were in a position to defend the brunet. 

Just as the blade was about to puncture Sora’s chest, it stopped dead. A glow began to form around Sora.

No... not quite around Sora, but above him. 

“No...” came Riku’s voice, strained. 

Slowly, Riku’s form began to flicker into existence, transparent, but apparently physical enough to hold Ansem back. He kneeled over Sora’s prone body, stopping the blade before it could make contact. 

“I won’t let you use me for this.” Riku huffed and grunted as he tried to push Ansem away. “Not this; not him.” 

“You should have been cast into the abyss!” Ansem shouted, struggling against Riku, “Why do you struggle?!”

Again, Riku grunted at the effort to hold him back, and didn’t answer, instead turning to Kairi, “Go! Take Sora with you! You have to get out of here! The Heartless are coming!”

“Riku!” Kairi called, trying to call on her keyblade, anything to help but Riku just shook his head. 

“It’s too late for me!” He managed to push Ansem far enough away that Kairi could grab Sora’s hand. “Just... take him away from here...” 

Kairi looked at Riku’s eyes and saw his resolve, “Right...” 

She was going to see if Goofy could carry Sora, but when she looked down at the sleeping boy, she saw blue eyes blinking back at her. 

“Kairi?” 

“Sora!” Kairi nearly hugged her friend but remembered the urgency of the situation. “Sora, we have to go. Can you stand?”

“Huh? Yeah...” The brunet shakily got to his feet. “Kairi, where’s Riku? I thought I heard him.”

Behind Sora, Riku was still struggling with Ansem, his eyes closed in the effort, but he shook his head. Kairi knew he didn’t want Sora to see. 

Kairi tried to distract Sora, “C’mon, no time for that now.” She pulled at his hand leading towards the stairs. 

“What?” Sora struggled against her hold, trying to turn around, but she just clasped his hand tighter. “Kairi, we always have time for Riku! What are you saying?”

Kairi felt tears come to her eyes as the last lights from Riku dimmed and he faded away. Her heart was aching. Riku really was gone now. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

With renewed effort she pulled him towards the door. “Beast! We have to go...”

“You go, I’ll stay to protect them.” He motioned towards Belle and the other princesses.

“But--” she shook her head. Like Riku, his heart was decided, and she had no right to change it. “Okay, be safe!” 

She pushed, pulled and manhandled Sora until they were outside the castle and Donald could beam them to the gummiship. Sora struggled against her hold the whole way. Even as they boarded the ship and Donald began to pilot them the fastest route to Traverse Town he kept shaking his head and trying to pull out of her tight grip. “Kairi! Where’s Riku? I know I heard him...”

But Kairi couldn’t explain. Her grip on Sora was the only thing keeping her from collapsing completely. “‘I’m sorry... I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

“Kairi?” Finally Sora stopped struggling and wrapped an arm around her, “Kairi... what happened to Riku?”

Kairi felt the tears spill down her cheek, even as she buried her face in Sora’s shirt to hide them. “He’s gone... I’m sorry...”

“Gone?” Sora’s hand paused from where it had been stroking her back in an attempt to comfort her. It was awkward and clumsy and so Sora. “You mean...”

“He’s gone...” Kairi repeated. “I couldn’t save him...” 

Sora just seemed to collapse against her, face buried in her shoulder. “No... Riku....” 

Finally, she let go of his hand so she could wrap both arms around him, both of them clinging to each other as they grieved their lost friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It'll be okay Kairi, I (mostly) promise.
> 
> Yay Sora's awake! And mostly confused. and Riku is gone. 
> 
> ... I just made myself sad again. :(


	13. closing the keyhole

Sora was avoiding her. 

He smiled at the Traverse Town gang, and even joked with Donald and Goofy, but with her, he was distant.

He blamed her. She knew that. He blamed her for not being able to save Riku. 

“Kairi...What’s wrong?” Donald asked, sitting at her side on the steps of the first district. 

“Hmm... oh... it’s nothing...” Kairi sniffed, and wiped a stray tear from her eye. “I just... I’m not sure what we can do now.”

“Well, that’s easy!” Goofy stated, coming up on her other side and laid a hand on her shoulder, “We’ll just have to go after this Ansem guy and get him to give Riku his body back.” 

“Right...” Kairi sighed, and then stood up. “You’re right!” 

“Besides,” Donald stood up with her, “We gotta go seal that keyhole.”

“And make sure those princesses are okay!” Goofy added. 

Kairi nodded, “You’re right. We still got a job to do. We can’t give up now.” And maybe there will be a way to save Riku. She had to have hope. 

She sent Goofy and Donald on to get the ship ready to go. She had one more errand to run before she left. 

The doors to the second district opened loudly, but, for once, there were no heartless waiting for her on the other side. Slowly, the heartless numbers were dwindling down. Kairi glanced around, checking to see if Sora was hiding in any of the alleyways or shops, but she couldn’t spot her spikey haired friend anywhere. Sighing, she was just about to duck into the hotel to ask Leon if he knew where her friend was when she spotted one bright yellow shoe disappearing over one of the rooflines of the row of buildings across the street area. 

Kairi ran over, leaping up and catching the canopy of the shop. Another hop and Kairi was on the roof of that building. She used all the upper body strength she had gained over the course of her journey to pull herself up onto the roof next over. Creepy quietly, she looked over the edge of the roofline. 

Sora was laying on the roof tiles, arms behind his head and facing the starry sky. Kairi crept closer quietly, wondering if Sora was asleep. 

“Hey, Kairi,” came Sora’s unusually quiet voice. Kairi sighed and sat down next to him. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure what else to say. 

“Huh? For what?” Sora sked, sitting up and tilting his head in confusion. 

“For not rescuing Riku...” Kairi elaborated, “For not being strong enough to pull him away from the darkness. For--”

“You can’t blame yourself for that!” Sora groaned, “C’mon Kairi, when have either of us been able to pull Riku away once he had his sights set on something?”

“I guess...” Kairi trailed off. “Then why--” She cut herself off. 

“Why...?” Sora leaned in, waiting patiently for her to finish. 

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“Huh? I’m not... I didn’t think I was...” He trailed off, crossing his arms, “Honestly, I thought you were avoiding me.” He gave her a small grin, “You got all these new friends now.”

Kairi groaned at both of their stupidity and launched herself at Sora, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sora squaked and hurried to regain his balance so they didn’t roll off the roof. “I’ll always need my Sora. There’s only one of you in all the worlds.”

Sora laughed, and hugged her with one arm, “Yeah... there’s only one of you too.”

Kairi grinned and let go, resuming her position next to Sora, “So if you weren’t avoiding me, what were you doing up here?”

“Oh... well...” He sighed and laid back down on the tiles, staring at the sky, “I just... felt like I never appreciated the stars before, you know? Like... Riku and I used to stargaze all the time when we were younger but I didn’t really appreciate them. I just liked them because Riku did. But now... I dunno... I just feel like looking at them...”

Kairi smiled and laid down on the roof with him. “Well, you know, every star out there is--”

“Is a light from another world?” Sora grinned, “Yeah I know...”

Kairi looked over, “Huh? Did Leon tell you? I didn’t even know until I got here...”

“Not exactly,” Sora let out a sigh, “You’re going to think I’m nuts.”

“Ehh... bit late for that!” Kairi teased, laughing when Sora shoved her arm. .

“Alright... well...” Sora closed his eyes in thought, “When I was sleeping, I think I was dreaming, but not a normal dream. When I failed to grab on to Riku’s hand, I felt myself falling. It felt like something was trying to rip my heart from my chest. Then, just as I thought I couldn’t hold on any longer, this warm light surrounded me and kept me safe. I was wearing this armor, and I rested on this large stained glass platform for a long time. Finally, this voice spoke to me. Asked me if I was ready...”

“Ready for what?” Kairi asked. 

Sora shrugged, “I’m not sure. But he... I think the voice was a he, talked to me for for a long time. Told me about stars, where light comes from. He even told me about the different worlds.” He turned to grin at her, “Did you know there’s this world where kids never grow up?”

Kairi returned the grin, “Yeah, I met this boy from there. Peter Pan.”

“You met Peter Pan?!” Sora laughed, “That’s so cool. I want to meet him someday!”

“Yeah...” Kairi trailed off. “But... I wonder what that voice was then.”

Sora shrugged, “I don’t know. But after awhile I could stand and move around the little platform. The voice said I shouldn’t take off the armor, cause that was only thing keeping the darkness from stealing my sleeping heart. He also said that it wouldn’t be too long till someone figured out how to wake me.” He turned back to Kairi, grinning, “And you did!”

Immediately Kairi looked away, contemplating for a second to take the credit. Sora was obviously thankful to her, and maybe that gratitude would turn towards that love she craved from him. 

But no... that was wrong. Sora deserved to know. 

“I didn’t really do anything, Sora.” Kairi sighed, “It was Riku. He’s the one who really saved you.” 

“What?” Sora sat up, “But you said Riku was--”

“Gone, I know,” Kairi sat up too. “His body was possessed by that Ansem guy. But before he was taken over completely, he managed to sacrifice the last of his energy to stop Ansem from taking your heart.” 

“He...He sacrificed himself for me?” Sora’s eyes began to water. 

“Yes. I think...” Kairi blushed, not sure how Sora would react to her next words, “I think it was an act of True Love. The fairies said that such an act could awaken someone with a sleeping heart.” 

“True love?” Sora shook his head, rubbing the tears from his eyes, “Don’t be silly Kairi, Riku doesn’t like me like that...He... he” No matter how Sora rubbed at his eyes, the tears continued to fall. 

_Oh._ Kairi quickly wrapped her arms around him, and he grasped at her back and buried his face in her shoulder. “Sora... he loved you so much...”

Sora continued to cry into her shoulder. “Kairi...we have to save him...”

Kairi raised a hand to his hair and running her fingers through it, “I will... I promise...” She held him until he finally fell asleep, exhausted by the tiring day. 

Luckily, Leon happened to be passing by on patrol. She called out softly to him and he came to lift Sora onto his back. 

“So... you’re going to go then?”

“Yeah... Could you tell Sora I’m sorry for leaving so soon... but if I waited any longer, he’d just want to come with... and he’d kind of be in my way,” she smiled fondly and rubbed her fingers through Sora’s hair again. 

“Sure...Cid’s preparing another gummiship though. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll come as back up. If our home is really safe to go back, we’ll have to get started on restoration right away,” Leon trailed off, obviously already making plans to repair his world. 

Kairi laughed softly, “Of course...”

She went with them as far as the hotel, then waved goodbye to join up with Donald and Goofy. They traveled back to Hollow Bastion, her promise to Sora stirring her forward, ready to take on anything. 

By the time they landed in Hollow Bastion, the heartless situation seemed to have gotten worse. The heartless were stronger than ever. Quickly they worked their way back up to the Great Hall. 

In the corridor right before the hall with the keyhole, Kairi saw several people gathered, including a few familiar faces. 

“Aurora!” she called out. 

The blonde looked up, startled, but she waved back, “Kairi! Donald! Goofy!” 

They ran up to her and Kairi gave her a hug, which was eagerly returned. “I’m glad you’re awake!”

“Me too!” Aurora rolled her eyes, “I have had enough of sleeping to last a lifetime...”

“That evil witch could have at least asked if we’d help her first,” another girl next to her said. It was the princess with dark hair. Awake, she looked to be about Kairi’s age. 

“I somehow don’t think she’d assume we’d say yes, Snow,” another princess stated, hiding a yawn behind a gloved hand. 

“Still, she could have asked,” Snow insisted. “She didn’t have to hurt my friends to get to me. I don’t think Grumpy will ever be the same!” 

“Everything will be fine once we end this,” Kairi assured. “Is everyone here okay?” She glanced around at the other princesses. Jasmine and Alice looked no worse for wear. 

“Is Aladdin okay?” Jasmine asked.

“Yes... He sends the genie to check in on me every once in a while to see if we found you yet,” Kairi pulled out the lamp charm Aladdin had given her so the genie could find her easier. “As soon as we can, we’ll get you back to him.”

“And Philip?” Aurora asked, “Kairi... is he...?”

Kairi frowned, “I’m sorry... I don’t know. We were separated when the world started falling apart.”

Aurora looked heart broken and Kairi sought to reassure her, “I’m sure he’s staying strong. You just have to have hope! As soon as we end this, everything will go back to the way it was.”

“Then you better hurry,” a voice behind her said. 

Kairi turned and saw another princess. This was the one Beast had been frantic about earlier. Belle.

“You must be Kairi,” Belle smiled at her, curtsying. “Beast has told me so much about you.”

Kairi grinned, “You must be Belle. Beast has been looking everywhere for you!”

“I know,” Belle held a hand to her heart. “I heard him calling for me while I was asleep.” She went towards the door of the great hall. “The darkness keeps leaking out of that keyhole. We’ve been holding it back as best we could, and I’ve been trying to read up how to close it permanently, but all my research leads back to the keyblade.”

Kairi brandished her blade and nodded, “Right, guess we better finish this then.” She nodded to Donald and Goofy beside her.

“Good Luck!” Aurora called out, “When you win, we’ll have to bake a big cake!”

“And a pie!” Snow added. 

Kairi laughed and nodded, “Looking forward to it!” 

They went into the great hall. Indeed, the keyhole was leaking darkness. Kairi held her keyblade out, but stayed dormant. 

“Maybe we have to go inside to close it,” Goofy suggested. 

It did seem like the most logical solution. Kairi nodded and stepped towards the keyhole. “You guys ready?”

Goofy and Donald nodded and together they rushed through the keyhole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if you should be listening to the voices in your head, Sora... but I guess works out in this case... 
> 
> Sort of a filler chapter, but I hope it explains a little more about Sora...?


	14. an unexpected ally

After defeating the monster inside the keyhole, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy all needed a breather before going after Ansem. Several of the princesses were working to clean out some of the living quarters as they would be staying in the castle until they could figure out how to get home. And none of them were eager to sleep surrounded by cobwebs. Kairi was surprised how many of the princess were used to manual labor. All but Jasmine had done chores around the house (or castle), and even she was eager to pitch in. Kairi rather thought that the work let them think of something other than their broken and far away homes and she resolved not to remind them. 

At some point between Kairi, Donald and Goofy entering the keyhole and exiting victorious, Leon and the rest of the Traverse Town gang arrived, Sora in tow. 

“He wouldn’t let go of Leon till we agreed to take him,” Yuffie laughed, ruffling Sora’s spiky hair. She and Aerith then ran off to see if they could help the princesses. 

“I can’t believe you left me behind Kairi!” Sora stuck out his tongue, “I’m part of the calvary.”

Leon huffed, “You’re a nuisance.” Though the words were harsh, they were stated fondly. Kairi couldn’t help but smile.

Sora was the best at making friends wherever he went.

They rested in the library while Kairi tried to look up more on Ansem to know maybe what they were going up against. There was little. 

She glanced over to where Sora was doing his best to help research but he seemed to have dozed off where he stood, book in hand. Kairi chuckled and poked his arm. 

Sora jerked and dropped the book. “Geeze, Kairi,” he groaned, picking the book up. “Give me a break.”

Kairi giggled and took the book from him, laying it on the table. “I don’t think we’re going to get anything from this.”

Sora nodded and then turned to her, “So, when are we going to leave then?”

“...We?” Kairi was confused. 

“Well yeah, I’m going with you!” Sora said eagerly. 

“Sora, you can’t go,” Kairi tried to be gentle about it.

“What?” Sora’s brow furrowed, “Of course I can!”

“Sora,” Kairi put her hands on her hips, “You’re going to stay here.”

“Why?” Sora had his own hands up, balled into fists in frustration, his voice rising. “I can help!” 

Around them Kairi could see the rest of the gang from Traverse Town as well as Donald and Goofy busied themselves in the Hollow Bastion castle library, pretending not to be listening in. 

“You’ve just spent the better part of six months sleeping!” Kairi reasoned, “You don’t even have a weapon to fight with!”

Sora pouted, “Oh yeah?” He held out his hand.

To Kairi’s absolute shock, a keyblade materialized. 

It was different than her own, a silver key with a gold hilt. 

“It came to me while I waited for you in Traverse Town...” Sora explained, pulling something else out of his pocket, “I thought it was just part of my dream till I saw you with yours. I just had to think about it, and it appeared. Then I found this while we waited for you to close the keyhole here,” He pulled out a charm, similar to the ones she had been collecting on her journey. It was a black crown, the same shape Sora wore around his neck; the necklace that had been a gift from Riku, long ago. 

“I don’t know what it is, but when I hold on to it, I think I can feel Riku’s heart,” Sora smiled and held the charm close. “He’s still out there. And we need to find him and bring him home. So you can’t go after this guy without me.” He held his keyblade up with a smile. 

“You don’t know how to wield it...” Kairi tried to reason, but her resolve was breaking.

Sora laughed sadly. “I told you, I thought it was just part of my dream, but I guess I was doing more than just sleeping.” He clutched at his heart as he tried to explain, “While I was waiting on that platform thing, this keyblade came to me. Then the voice stated something about taking the keyblade in hand... or... something...” Sora shrugged, “It sounded important. When I took the keyblade, it glowed. The voice taught me how to wield it. After I woke up, I didn’t think I could summon it again till I tried. Leon’s been showing me some stuff too while we waited for Cid to fix up the gummiship to fly here.”

“I bet Leon was thrilled about that,” Kairi guessed, inwardly laughing at the thought of Leon realizing that not one, but two ‘kids’ could wield the keyblade. 

Sora laughed as well, walking towards the tables where they were stacking their discarded books. He sighed and leaned back against the table. “Besides, I know it sounds crazy, but I keep hearing Riku calling out to me. I just know he’s out there, and I need to be there when you save him.”

It was unusual to see the normally laid back Sora so stubborn, but there was a glint in his eyes and Kairi knew she would never change his mind. Not when it came to Riku. She let out a small sigh, “I really never stood a chance, did I?”

Sora’s head tilted, “Huh?”

Kairi laughed and shook her head, “It’s nothing. Anyway, we’ll be leaving in a few. Ask Leon and Aerith if there are any spare potions you can--” she was cut off by Sora pulling several out of her pockets.

“Already covered,” he grinned. 

Kairi shook her head, “Okay then... last thing.” She took the black crown charm from his hand and clipped it to his keyblade, taking the other charm off. With a flash, the keyblade changed forms. 

“Woah!” Sora exclaimed, examining the now obsidian black key in his hand, decorated with a thick link of chains down the blade and an ornate hilt. 

“Don’t worry, it’s still yours, but it should be a bit stronger,” Kairi explained watching as Sora took a few practice swings. 

“Yeah!” Sora took what could only be described as a heroic stance, “We’re ready, right, Kairi?”

Kairi nodded, drawing on her own keyblade. She had considered using her good luck charm as a keychain to see how it would change the blade, but decided against it, feeling more comfortable with the blade she began her journey with. Besides, it’ll be amusing to bash this Ansem guy over the head with a flowery keyblade. “Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Was anyone else a little miffed that Kairi didn't show up with Leon and gang at the end of KH before you go to End of the World? I mean... why not?
> 
> Also... Yeah, Sora getting the keyblade now is a little... rushed. But.. but.... Kairi could wield the keyblade in KH2 (and could oneshot those heartless what the heck?!), which leads me to believe that she could have wielded it in KH1 and Sora could have used a little of that oneshot wonder power. 
> 
> Besides, Sora's such a sweetheart to write


	15. end of the line

There was nothing left of the worlds taken by the heartless, only small islands of land. They hopped from spot to spot, battling heartless along the way until they came to their own decimated islands.

“Our home...” Sora said, despondent. “I can’t believe...”

“We’ll fix it,” Kairi reassured him, Donald and Goofy nodding in agreement. Sora looked at her before nodding as well.

“Why would you want to fix this tiny island?” Riku’s voice resounded around them, but darker. 

At the edge of the water, Riku stood, back in the skin tight outfit he had worn in Hollow Bastion. 

Sora tried to run to him, but Kairi stopped him. “That’s not Riku, Sora...”

“What?”

“Just...look at him. Feel his presence,” Kairi tried to explain how she knew Riku wasn’t in front of them. 

Sora did as she asked, closing his eyes. After a moment he jumped back, calling his keyblade in hand. “Who are you?”

The Riku figure scoffed, “So, the pathetic sleeping weakling can wield a keyblade too? No matter...” he called his own blade in hand. 

“Stop toying with us!” Kairi called out, “Don’t fight us wearing that disguise...”

“Disguise?” Riku’s face turned into that horrid smirk that Kairi was learning to hate, “Who says this is a disguise? For all purposes, your friends body belongs to me now. I cast his heart out as soon as you two fled. You abandoned him!”

“He bought us time!” Kairi shouted back, “It was an act of true love and it woke Sora! How dare you dishonor that.” She lashed out with her keyblade, which was blocked easily by Ansem’s blade. 

The silver haired boy jumped back, shifting as he did so into the figure of the man who tried to hurt Sora. 

The brunet lunged forward as well, growling, “Give Riku back his body!” 

“No... I don’t think I will!” He waved his hands, pushing both Kairi and Sora back onto the beach. 

Donald and Goofy quickly joined the fight and together they managed to push Ansem into the split remains of the main tree on the play island. True to his word, Sora mostly defended himself and provided support to Kairi and the others. He also easily took out the shadows that Ansem kept calling to distract Kairi, Donald and Goofy. 

Sora knocked another Shadow heartless out of the way, as Kairi used the opening to hit Ansem's unprotected back, Donald following it up with a fire burst and Goofy punching the man with his shield, sending Ansem flying. 

For a moment, Kairi thought that this would be it, they could capture Ansem, maybe force him to somehow relinquish his hold on Riku’s body. 

Then, Ansem did something new, called out to some sort of Guardian that quickly bound Kairi. She felt like she was in chains. 

"Kairi!" Donald shot fire and blizzard at the guardian, but the being didn't even flinch. He clearly hesitated over using thunder, not wanting to injure Kairi by accident. 

Goofy shot his shield as well, but it bounced off as nothing more than a mere annoyance. 

“You insignificant pest!” Ansem cried out, raising the dark blade that Riku had used. 

“Kairi!” 

She heard Sora shout her name, and she braced herself for the blow. 

It never came.

The guardian finally released her and she blinked her eyes, almost expecting to see Riku’s transparent form again, holding Ansem back. 

It was much worse. 

Sora stood in front of her, taking the full brunt of the blow. 

“Sora!”

Ansem smirked before he and his guardian faded into the split trunk of the tree. 

Kairi caught Sora as he fell, or she tried to. His body seemed to be glowing, already fading. “Sora no!”

He grinned at her then closed his eyes and faded completely, sparks of light drifting up into the sky. 

“Sora!” Kairi felt tears immediately spring to her eyes, “Sora!” She couldn’t break down now. She could not. Ansem was still out there, waiting. 

Kairi quickly wiped the tears away, and pulled Sora’s keyblade to her, racing towards the tree, not even waiting to see if Donald and Goofy followed. 

As soon as she entered, Ansem called out his guardian again, but this time Kairi was ready, dodging easily and attacking the man with both keyblades. He seemed to be trying to recover from his earlier fight, and used his Guardian for most of his attacks, but Kairi angrily dodged them all and attacked with a fury. This man had now taken both of her friends from her. 

He seemed to realize that this was a battle he wouldn’t be winning, “Guardian!” he called out, but for once the spectral being didn’t answer. 

Kairi took a quick glance back and saw perhaps the strangest sight on her whole journey. 

A shadow heartless was scratching over the face of the guardian. The guardian struggled with it, but the shadow just slipped out of its grasp and continued to scratch at any part it could reach. 

Kairi almost laughed, but remembered that she had a job to do. With one last blow, she knocked Ansem out of the tree. She looked back, ready to fight the guardian, but found that it was disappearing. The shadow fell to the ground, and seemed to shake itself off before waddling over to her. 

Cautiously, Kairi knelt down, “Who are...”

The shadow stared at her, its face devoid of any emotion, but something about it seemed familiar. Her heart recognized it even though her eyes didn’t. “Sora?”

The shadow fidgeted, and didn’t make any other motion but Kairi knew that it was true. Somehow, Sora had retained some portion of his humanity. He had saved Kairi again. 

Kairi held a hand out, “C’mon... I’m not sure, but maybe at the end of this, we can get your body back...”

The shadow reached out and touched her hand with its little feeler things before crawling up her arm and settling on her shoulder. It’s presence was cold, but not uncomfortably so. 

“Kairi!” Donald shouted, and she exited the tree.

“Uh, watch out Kairi!” Goofy called, “Heartless!”

Donald quacked in agitation and began banging the heartless on the head. “Get out of here! Scram!”

“Wait!” Kairi held out her hand, stopping Donald’s further assault. “It’s Sora...”

“Huh?” Donald looked closer. “Are you sure?”

Kairi grinned and nodded, “Yeah, just trust me.”

“Well, alright... now let’s go after that Ansem guy!” Goofy called out. 

Kairi looked around, but didn’t see a trace of Ansem or his Guardian anywhere. 

They searched for a moment longer, and had just thought about returning to the beach where they first saw him when the the world fell out from underneath them. 

Literally.

The sandy beach disappeared from underneath her feet in chunks. Shocked, Kairi let out a startled shout as she fell. She barely caught a glance of this giant monster thing and she heard Donald and Goofy let out startled yelps as they were sucked into it. She continued to fall.

_“Kairi!”_

Her eyes opened. The voices had called out to her from her heart. Sora and Riku. She glanced over to the Sora- heartless who was still clinging to her arm. 

Right. She couldn’t give up now. 

She thought of the happiest memory she knew. Of her and her boys sitting on the paopu tree the evening before everything changed. Ready to see the world. 

Tinkerbell's fairy dust kicked in and she flew up, summoning her own keyblade and brandishing it. 

“You’re going down, Ansem!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely played fast and loose with the whole Ansem battle sequence. Mostly because I kind of forgot how that whole battle went. I know he doesn't actually wield Soul Eater at any part of the battle, but it worked for my purposes. (Sorry Sora...) 
> 
> Also, food for thought, if Soul Eater is the "developing form" for Way to the Dawn, is soul eater technically a keyblade? Is it the form his keyblade takes when there is no keychain? Where did the keychain come from? What does developing form mean?! Will these questions ever be answered?! (I hope so and preferably around the same time Riku gets his new car key, I mean keyblade)


	16. pandora's box

Of course, Ansem wasn’t going to go down that easy. 

Whatever that monstrous thing was, it gave him power while it made Kairi sick to her stomach. This was something worse than darkness. This was some twisted nightmare. 

Shadow-Sora chattered in her ear and Kairi could almost hear the words he was trying to say:

_“C’mon, Kairi! I know you’ve taken down bigger things than that!”_

Kairi nodded to herself and brandished her keyblade. Ansem had grown ten times the size of a man and now faced off against her. Though his big size gave him more powerful strikes, Kairi was able to duck under most of them, hitting him where she could. 

Just when Kairi thought she had him, he fell into some sort of sleep, letting his ship/monster thing do the work for him. 

The enemies just kept coming so Kairi entered the monster instead to look for Donald or Goofy.

She found Goofy first, surrounded by heartless. Shadow-Sora leapt down from her arm and began attacking the other heartless. Most of the Heartless seemed extremely confused when they were attacked by the little Shadow heartless. Kairi used the confusion to her advantage to quickly take them all out. 

She and Goofy had to fight off more of the monstrous thing before they were able to return and rescue Donald. The duck had managed to get himself surrounded by stronger heartless since his magic created light that attracted them. Shadow-Sora became useful in this room as well, darting in between the heartless and weakening them before Kairi and Goofy took them out. 

By the time they got Donald out, Ansem had awoken from his nap, recharged and ready to fight 

But now Kairi had her friends by her side. Donald helped heal while she went in for the attack, again dodging under the overpowered swings. Shadow-Sora attacked the man’s face, blinding him most of the time, while Goofy deflected the projectiles that came from the ship. 

Seeing an opening, Kairi hit one last time against Ansem’s abdomen. A bright light nearly blinded her for a moment before it faded.

Ansem now floated before her, a man again. A few feet away a large set of stained glass doors formed, creaking open. 

“Kingdom Hearts!” Ansem cried out, reaching for the doors. “Give me, the power of Darkness!”

“You’re wrong!” Kairi admonished, knowing in her heart what Kingdom Hearts was. “The heart may be weak. Love may be our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. Sometimes we may even give in, but if there’s one thing that I’ve learned, is that hope is the one light that never goes out. Kingdom Hearts is light!”

Sure enough, as soon as the doors opened beyond a crack, a burst of radiance came through, destroying Ansem’s form. 

After a moment, the light faded. Kairi and her team floated down to the land mass the doors were resting on. She peaked through the doorway, finding it a land of darkness. Heartless were starting to swarm, drawn to the light. 

“We gotta close that door!” Goofy stated. He and Donald took one side while Kairi took the other. It wouldn’t budge. 

“It’s hopeless!” Donald cried out. He and Goofy were still pushing, trying to get the door to budge. Kairi had to take a break as her arms gave out. Shadow-Sora chittered encouragingly, but Kairi wasn’t sure if she could do it on her own. 

“C’mon!” A hand shot out between the gap, trying to pull the door closed. “Don’t give up, Kairi!”

Kairi let out a gasp as Riku’s face appeared around the door. “Riku!” 

“C’mon!” He pulled harder at the door and it shifted closed just a little more. 

Suddenly, the heartless Sora at her side jumped towards the gap, squeezing his tiny body through and then wrapped his thin arms around Riku’s neck. 

Riku let out a startled shout and tried to pull the heartless away. 

“Sora!” Kairi called out. 

But the heartless either couldn’t, or wouldn’t hear her, holding onto the silver haired boy with as much strength as he had. He didn’t try to hurt Riku, just held onto him. 

“Sora?” Hesitantly, Riku stopped pulling the shadow away and instead looked at it for a moment, trying to find Sora in those blank yellow eyes. “Sora? Is it really you?”

The shadow just held on, and Riku pulled it tighter. With a sudden burst of light, it was Sora, the real Sora, hugging Riku with all his might. 

“Riku!” Sora exclaimed, “I thought I’d never see you again.” 

“Sora...” Riku pulled the brunet closer, then pushed him away just as fast, “You have to get back through the doorway while it’s still open. Hurry!” He tried to push Sora back through but the brunet was stubborn and dug his feet in. 

“No way! Not unless you come too.”

“I can’t!” Riku reasoned, glancing around them. The flash from Sora’s reformation had stirred the heartless and they were getting restless, trying to rush towards the tiny sliver of light into the worlds. “Someone has to stay on this side to close the door.”

“Then let me help with that.” Sora grabbed onto the door that Goofy and Donald were still trying to close and pulled hard. 

“But guys!” Kairi cried out.

“It’s okay, Kairi!” a high pitched voice cried out behind them. “There will always be a door to light...” Kairi glimpsed behind Riku and saw a figure with two large ears at the top of his head surrounded by light and holding out another keyblade. 

“You’re Majesty!” Donald and Goofy cried out.

The King gave a soft laugh, “Thanks guys, but don’t worry. As long as there is hope, a door to the light can open again.”

“Right....” Kairi grinned, and pulled her good luck charm out of her pocket, passing it through the gap to Riku. “Here! It’s my lucky charm so you better bring it back to me!” 

“We will!” Sora grinned, still pulling the door closed. Riku hesitated for a moment, staring at the brunette in disbelief before taking a hold of the other door and doing the same. Slowly the gap closed. At the last second, Kairi glimpsed through the crack, finding Riku and Sora staring back at her. 

“Take care of each other.” She said. 

Riku nodded in reply and Sora grinned. “See you on the other side!”

The crack closed and there was a resounding boom as the door closed all the way. 

“Now, Kairi!” the King cried out from behind the closed door. “Let’s lock this door for good!”

Kairi nodded and held her keyblade out. A light shone from the tip and there was the sound of a lock closing for good before the doors disappeared. 

The redhead sighed. She was alone again, Riku and Sora trapped in the world of darkness. 

Then she felt two hands on her shoulders and she glanced back at Goofy and Donald. Well, not completely alone. 

The call of a seagull startled her out of her thoughts and she turned, seeing sand and palm trees. Hesitantly, she stepped closer, smelling the seabreeze air and listening to the waves crash against the shore. 

Home.

She looked at the scarce inch of space between her and the beaches of home. She considered crossing over. If she did, would she return for good?

Kairi shook her head, and stepped back. The shoreline began to break away from the world she was standing in. She couldn’t return yet. She had to find Riku and Sora. 

Together, they would return home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am more than slightly tipsy while I'm posting this chapter. Which is also why it's more than slightly late. But better late than never? And with the going ons tomorrow and the next day, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. But just let me know if something is just way off. Drunk me is way more lenient with spelling mistakes than undrunk me. 
> 
> So that's it, that's the end. (OR IS IT?!) It's not quite the end, I do have a very, very, very, very short epilogue to post hopefully tomorrow when I'm more sober. 
> 
> I hope you guys have enjoyed the ride as much as I have! I do have a sequel in the works, but I want to end "An Ever Changing Sky" series first as well as start posting another work I have had in progress for almost a year.


	17. ending at the crossroads

Elsewhere, just outside a mansion on the outskirts of a bustling town, a boy woke up and stood on shaky legs. He felt nothing. Nothing was real to him. A figure walked up. Gave him a purpose. Gave him a name. 

In a room high up in a tower, a girl drew pictures, knowing that the images she saw were not hers to own. 

A young woman fell deeper into the world of darkness, holding tight to the star shaped charm she had made for her and her friends.

In another room still, a boy slept. 

And on a hillside at the crossroads of two pathways, a figure in black approached a redhead keyblade bearer and offered her choice. 

She could find something. 

But she would lose something in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very, Very, Very, Very Short epilogue/teaser for a sequel. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read, left kudos, and commented on this fic. It has been a fantastic ride!

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know of any glaring errors. I do edit these things myself. 
> 
> I also welcome prompts though I can't guarentee I'll get to them in a timely manner. :D

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Chase the Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15586479) by [LawnNinja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LawnNinja/pseuds/LawnNinja)




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